The Past Becomes You
by emeraldwolf
Summary: YAOI! Don't read if you don't like. 2xSolo, 2x1. A boy named Solo from Duo's past returns to confront him about something. Warnings on the first chapter. complete The sequel, The Future Denies You is posted.
1. Default Chapter

*=change of scenery  
  
///Name////=flashback, the name is the POV  
  
'thinking'=usually talking in their head  
  
warnings: semi-original character, i took the name, but most of the rest i made up myself, slight gore, some language, yaoi...and lots of it! ^_^  
  
leave a review ^_^  
  
also feel free to instant message me, my screename is tmbrwolf113--on just about every im'er  
  
  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
Duo's eyes shot open and he sat up in his bed. 'Hm, that's odd, I usually don't just wake up.' He thought to himself and began to wonder if it had been a nightmare that had disturbed his sleep, but no, he hadn't had any dreams that night.  
  
Duo began to squirm under his sheets, his back felt really strange. He reached his hand awkwardly behind him and felt his back. When he looked at his hand, he was shocked to find warm, sticky blood on it.  
  
'That's strange, I don't remember my back getting hacked up at all.' He looked at the small blood spot on his sheet and decided he should deal with whatever was making him bleed now.  
  
But before he left his room to head for the bathroom and the first aid kit, and idea came to him on what may have caused his spontaneous bleeding. 'Oh please, please don't be what I think this is.' He walked over to his mirror, and took off the oversized tee-shirt he wore to bed. There, on his back, were two very small slits on his shoulder blades that each had a trickle of blood leaking out of them. Then, as if someone had hit the rewind button on a vcr, the slits closed themselves up, leaving no scar or other sign, except the blood.  
  
"Oh crap." Duo exclaimed, ever so eloquently.  
  
Then, leaving the reason for his late night hemorrhaging to later, he had to decide how to explain blood on his sheets when the others knew he hadn't gotten injured on their last mission. 'Hmm, I think someone would notice if my pair of sheets just magically disappeared, so now I need a good excuse.' Duo let out a tired, sad sigh. 'But, of course, I can't lie. Argh, this is too difficult. Ah ha, I've got it. Wufei had his leg cut on the last mission. Just switch the sheets, and no one wonders about a thing.'  
  
Duo's typical Shinigami grin came across his face as he took the sheets off his bed and snuck his way out of his room and down the hall to his poor Chinese friend's room. Luckily, Duo knew he was the best of all of them at silently sneaking into places, and carefully made his way into the room. 'Okay, now, how do I switch the sheets when he's still sleeping on them?'  
  
Then, an idea stuck him, again, 'I must be on a roll tonight.' Duo left the pile of sheets quietly next to the wall behind Wufei's bed. 'Please let me be right about this.' Duo silently pleaded, then, he grabbed the 05 pilot's alarm clock and began to change the time, soon, it was set to go off in exactly one minute. He placed it back on the nightstand and hid under the bed, making sure not to touch the underside of the bed.  
  
One minute later, the alarm went off and Wufei woke up. Out of habit, he reached over and shut the alarm off then got up and walked out of the door, heading for the bathroom to get ready. Duo jumped up as soon as he was out of the room and stripped the sheets off his bed and, as quickly as was humanly possible, put his stained ones on the mattress.  
  
Then, Duo grabbed his pile of clean sheets and made a mad dash for his room. As soon as he was in his room with the door closed, he heard the bathroom open and a cursing Wufei returning to his room, mumbling something about "Possessed alarm clocks."  
  
Duo couldn't help but snicker then climb in his newly made and clean bed, after changing his shirt. 'Eh, I'll just throw it out, I don't think the others keep an inventory of my clothes, but, then again..." Duo kept on quietly laughing at his mental joke until he fell asleep once again.  
  
Duo rose and got up a few hours later and got ready for the day, pleased to find that he didn't have any more bleeding spells during the night. But, as he began to walk downstairs for breakfast, he realized that this was going to be a bad week, and he knew that he'd be faced with something he had hoped he'd never have to see again. What he wasn't expecting, was how soon it would come.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Hey Quatre, ya got any milk? I wanna have some cereal." Duo asked from behind the refrigerator door.  
  
"No Duo, plus, it's your turn to go for supplies, and you haven't yet." The blond replied from behind the front page of the newspaper he was reading, then let out a chuckle at the unhappy sigh that Duo had released upon being reminded of the responsibilities he was given now that he shared the house with the other pilots.  
  
Said four pilots were sitting around on various couches, either watching tv or just enjoying some rare peace. Wufei it seemed, was going to keep the appearance of the blood on his sheets to himself, the others knew he had been hurt, he felt no need to keep them up to date on every occurrence in his life. And Duo, being smarter than most would take him for, planned to keep everything happening to himself.  
  
"We have a mission," Heero said, staring blankly ahead.  
  
"Ah ha! I knew it, he's psychic!" Duo shouted, then began to laugh hysterically at the strange look he received from Heero, who, in his mind, he had already dubbed 'Ms. Cleo Yuy'.  
  
Heero let out a "hmph" and refused to look over at the laughing Duo. He had long ago come to terms with the fact that he had a crush on the lively God of Death, but he would prefer to not be found staring at the boy whenever he let out that beautiful smile. To keep his mind off the object of his affection, he got up and walked over to his laptop, which he had set up on a table so he could see when they would receive a mission. Opening up the mail he quickly scanned the instructions.  
  
"Okay, it's a quick reconaissance mission. Very heavy security, the mission requires four of us to go and one to remain here to make sure that the information gathered is safely saved and protected on this laptop."  
  
"Heero, is the mission that dangerous that the information won't be safe in our Gundams?" Quatre asked, sounding a little more than worried.  
  
Trowa, who had walked over and also read the mission stats answered his friend's question, "No, there's a failsafe program on the system we're getting the information from. It'll erase the info from whatever source infiltrates the system. Unfortunately, if the data is sent anywhere else, it'll also follow it and delete it. We need someone here to get it, and change the program, including it into the laptop's hardrive as a different program altogether. They're going to have to go as fast as they can, before the program has a chance to delete it. It says here that we need Heero to go in, he's the only one who can get the data out of the computer, and another one to guard his back. The remaining pilots are to provide cover fire and destroy as many enemy ms's as possible. The security is incredible at this base."  
  
"Wow Trowa, that's more than I've heard you say in all the time I've known you!" Duo grinned, at least with a mission, he'd be able to stop worrying about his own personal problems. "So, when do we leave, and who has to stay?"  
  
"We leave tomorrow afternoon, it's a long trip." Heero replied. Then he looked over their little band of guerrila soldiers and quickly began to analyze the situation. "Wufei, you're injured, and we need the rest of us for the different jobs required for the mission, you should stay behind."  
  
"Fine by me." The quick response came from Wufei, it was obvious that he wanted to go on the mission, but realized that it was for the better of everyone that he stayed behind. Plus, his leg randomly bleeding last night had him a bit worried, maybe the injury was worse than he had thought.  
  
"Good, we leave in 28 hours, make sure you're all ready to go, and have you're parts in the mission memorized." Quatre said, quickly assuming his usual position of leader.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Hey Trowa, how's the Heavyarms coming?" Quatre walked from the catwalk to the cockpit of his best friend's gundam. Peering into the partially lit cockpit he could barely see Trowa. The Heavyarms had taken a badly placed hit in their last, rather intense battle, and had knocked out the cockpit system. The other gundams managed to carry 03 back to their hangar but it had been difficult, and reprogramming it was going to take an all nighter.  
  
"Well, it's okay, I think I may be able to use one of the other systems to jump start mine, and then find my system. I saved it on my gundams harddrive, it should still be there."  
  
"You can use Sandrock's, I'll go get the hookup."  
  
While inside Sandrock, Quatre once again contemplated the weird feeling he'd been having lately. 'I don't think my space heart is responding to the upcoming mission, it doesn't feel the same as it usually does. It almost feels, confused rather than in pain. I hope it's nothing too serious.' Just then, Quatre's internal monologue was interrupted by a few shouts, threats, and the sound of someone running down the catwalk. Quatre looked up just in time to see a Duo running by, as fast as he could with a smile on his face and a cd in his hand. Two gunshots rang out and two seconds later a very pissed off Heero also ran by poor Quatre. 'I wonder what he did this time?'  
  
Quatre picked up the wire which was now connected to his Sandrock's cpu and walked over to the Heavyarms. Trowa was once again sitting in his cockpit seat, trying desperately, or as desperately as Trowa can ever be, to fix his maimed gundam. Without even looking up from his fiddling, Trowa commented offhandedly, "How many?"  
  
"That's six on the south wall, four on the north, one on the west, and nine on the east." Two more shots rang out, and Trowa looked up questioningly at his young Arabian friend. Quatre leaned out the cockpit and scanned the hangar.  
  
"Well, now there are eleven on the east wall." Quatre, and even Trowa, couldn't contain a smirk at the antics of their comrades.  
  
"Duo sure does like that east wall, doesn't he?"  
  
Trowa just nodded and hooked up the wire, preparing his gundam to be completely reprogramming. 'This is gonna take forever. Hm, I wonder what Duo did this time?'  
  
* * * * *  
  
"I swear Heero, I thought you'd think it was funny, really!" Duo was, once again, pinned to the wall by Heero's death glare and his gun trying to explain his life out of this. 'Okay, he's definitely overreacting this time, the shaving cream incident I deserved to be shot at for, and, well, the laptop prank...both laptop pranks weren't very nice, but this one was just out of good clean fun.'  
  
"Come on man! I already fixed it. I put the zero system back where it belonged, and reinstalled it."  
  
"Duo, " It wasn't even a name at this point, it was a growl. 'I can't believe he did that. Did he really think I wouldn't notice that my zero fight simulation had been replaced by a mech video game! Still, this way I do get to see that hot little look he gets on when he's trying to bargain his way out of something.' Lowering his gun, Heero gave Duo one last glare before walking off and double checking his entire gundam for any more of Duo's 'harmless' pranks.  
  
'Phew, okay, that was close. Say, look at that, eleven on the east wall.'  
  
* * * * *  
  
Safely alone in his room, Duo sighed loudly. 'Wow, what a day, at least Wufei seems to have bought the sheet thing alright. Hmm, what am I gonna do about tonight, I can't keep switching sheets with him every night.' Duo stripped down to his boxers and decided that it would be better to not bother wearing a shirt at all. He lay face down on his bed, on top of the sheets and comforter. 'Hopefully, I'll be woken up earlier this time, and hopefully I'll stay facedown, less chance of getting blood anywhere.' His face became an almost pout. 'Boy that's a lotta hopes. I been hoping too much lately.' A small, hopeful smile briefly brightened the young soldier's face before he fell into a light sleep. 


	2. Someone New

"Ahh" Duo let out a small, sharp gasp as he woke up to a stinging sensation on his back. 'Oh crap, I hope I can make it.' He lept out of his bed and ran as fast as he could to the bathroom, which, luckily, was only two doors down from his. Duo threw the door open then, as quietly as he could, he closed and locked it. He ran over, beginning to feel the real pain across his shoulders, and crawled into the bathtub. Throwing his boxers as far as he could from the tub, he was soon forced to his knees by the pain. The bathtub curtain was already pulled all the way to a side, which had given him a quick leap into the tub. Unfortunately, it also gave him a good look at the huge mirror across from him.  
  
On his back, specifically, on the back of both his shoulder blades, blood was beginning to well up from two cuts. Looking at himself, Duo could see the pain and traces of fear as he watched himself in the mirror. Slowly, painfully slow, the cuts on his back began to grow longer and longer, until they stretched about a foot going up and down his back, on both sides.  
  
Even more frightening and disgusting than the randomly occurring gashes on Duo's back were the bumps. Running from the top of his shoulders all the way down to his knees, a long bump had begin to rise and shift under his skin. It was like watching two snakes writhing inside his back. Duo's eyes widened to an impossible size and his jaw hung open slightly as he saw this, the one thing he feared more than anything else in the world.  
  
There, in those gashes, were two lines of black. Each long, thick line of black began to push it's way out of Duo's skin. He quickly clamped his hand over his mouth to hold back the pained scream that was trying to wrench it's way out of his throat. The black continued to rise, and push through the skin, but it was obvious by the strangely upraised line that whatever this thing that was in Duo's back was far too big to fit through the tiny two foot long slices.  
  
The poor boy began to tremble and had to use all his willpower to keep from screaming. He glanced up to the mirror and was horrified by the blood which was pouring down his sides, across his chest, down his legs. Then, as suddenly as it had began, the pain stopped. Duo looked up and sure enough, his skin was being pulled upward as something black that seemed to be folded up inside him had a blood covered, triangular part poking through his skin. Duo couldn't help but notice that his back resembled a shark, or possibly a dolphin, except that he had two fins on his back, black and glistening red.  
  
Finally, after a few minutes of nothing, a faint and strange feeling came to Duo, he watched, now calm and relieved of the agony as the black points retreated back into his back, folding in odd shapes to set the bumps back to where they had come from. His skin relaxed as it was no longer being pulled upward, and soon, his back looked normal, with the exception of the gashes, which were also beginning to heal up. Only about fifteen minutes after he had come into the bathroom, Duo was back to normal, but now covered in scarlet blood and quite a bit shaken. 'That is the LAST time I watch that. Eww, that just totally gives me the creeps. Way worse than Heero and that stupid leg of his.'  
  
'Heero.' Duo let himself think his mind drift to his beautiful friend. Duo had known right from the start that he had a crush on the Japanese pilot. His messy hair. His perfect soldier's body. Even his annoyingly aggressive personality had entranced him. And his eyes, those incredible, intense gold eyes. 'Wait a minute, Heero has blue eyes. Intense, COBALT blue eyes. Get it together Duo, you can't be distracted on this mission.' But despite his mental orders, Duo's mind soon drifted to another boy, equally attractive to Heero, but who Duo was sure he had no feelings for; with the possible exception of contempt and hatred.  
  
Quietly, ensuring that the others wouldn't wake up, Duo cleaned himself and the bathroom up, then slipped his clean boxers on. He slipped out into the hallway and snuck back to his room. 'Man oh man, this is nerve racking, there are only five people in the world who can hear me sneaking around, oh, and look, how convenient, four of them are right here in this house.' Finished with his bitter ravings, Duo climbed into his warm and dry bed and drifted off to sleep, still clinging to the hope that this nightmare would soon be over, without his fellow pilots finding out.  
  
* * * * *  
  
It was eight the next morning when Duo came running down the stairs. He was super hyped over the mission, after all, he was the best at breaking and entering, so naturally he'd be chosen to go in with Heero. Of course, just the idea of battle was exciting for Shinigami, it was what he lived for, it was his lot in life. And he loved it.  
  
"Morning all!"  
  
"Morning Duo." Or various versions came from the other four. Heero was leaning over Wufei's shoulder going over the last few directions he had for the data transferal. Quatre and Trowa were reading over the schematics of the base and debating over the way they should carry out the mission. Then, of all the strange things that could happen at that very moment, the doorbell rang.  
  
'Kind early for a visitor.' All five pilots thought.  
  
"I'll get it!" Duo yelled and ran over to the door, noting comfortably that his gun was tucked in under his waistband along his back, for the mission, but also in case of hostile UPS delivery men.  
  
Carelessly grabbing the doorknob and throwing it open, Duo froze and stared ahead. The other four pilots became curious at the lack of a happy greeting from the loud pilot and turned their heads just in time to see a sight that was the most suprising thing any of them could have imagined.  
  
An eighteen year old boy stepped over the threshold casually, as if he belonged there, and then, taking another stepped forward, kissed Duo full on the lips. The pilots were shocked into silence, Quatre and Trowa confused, and Heero and Wufei enraged. Each had some very interesting thoughts on the newcomer.  
  
'He's kissing Duo. My Duo. He's dead.'  
  
'Poor Duo, that isn't right, people should have more manners than to come running into a person's house uninvited and then assaulting them.'  
  
"Hm, I wonder if he knows Duo?'  
  
'Ah, that's what my heart was telling me. I knew something was going to happen. Looks like there are going to be love complications in the house.' Quatre looked over at Heero who had a disgusted look on his face, one he recognized easily as jealousy. 'Oh yeah, this is gonna be bad.'  
  
Before anyone else could react, and at the same time these many thoughts were running through his friend's minds, Duo did something that made them all very proud. He pulled his lips out of the strangers grasp and punched him hard in the face. Then he kneed him in the stomach and took a step back, wiping his lips with his sleeve.  
  
Now that the "crisis" had been averted, everyone took a moment to observe the mysterious man. He wore a normal, light pair of jeans, slightly baggy and torn from use. His shirt was royal blue and about as plain as t-shirts come. He also had on a long black leather jacket. Even through both the shirt and jacket, it was obvious that the boy was nicely cut.  
  
"Jeez kid, you'd think that you'd have learned some manners. That ain't the way you greet an old friend." The smirk the boy held seemed to not be able to fall, despite having just been punched.  
  
"Duo, do you know this guy?" Trowa asked, though he kept his eyes permanently glued on the newcomer.  
  
"Solo." 


	3. A boy named Solo

"Solo."  
  
One simple word, a name, but the venom which it was spoken did little to hide the fact that Duo hated whoever this person was.  
  
It was obvious that Duo did not like this guy. And, considering his entrance earlier, the other pilots were not too trusting either.  
  
Then, as if he weren't in enough trouble as it was, the boy looked Duo straight in the eye, and blew him a kiss. That was it, the line had been crossed. A few seconds later, a Duo had been flung against Solo and the two were fighting, Duo like a wildcat, and Solo like a professional martial arts instructor who was sparring with his student.  
  
"Good move there kid, I know I didn't teach you that. Nice, but you should try and kick a little higher."  
  
It was incredible, here was the God of Death, one of the most feared enemies in all of the world, and his every move was blocked by a guy who looked like he should be living in a cardboard box somewhere. Even more surprising, was that he was commenting on every move, and wasn't fighting back.  
  
"Uhh, guys? I know none of us really wants to go near Duo when he's fighting, but either this guy is gonna start fighting back, or Duo's eventually gonna kill him. And I don't really want to try and explain this dead guy to the police."  
  
Trowa, Heero, and Wufei all nodded in agreement and began to advance on the fighters, preparing to separate them.  
  
Ten minutes, two black eyes, one twisted wrist, four bruised ribs, and one forearm gash later, Duo was tied in a chair by a very thick rope and elaborate knots. Solo was permitted to stand, just so long as Wufei kept his katana at his throat the entire time. As the four pilots began to get bags of ice and other first aid devices, Duo refused to give up his attempt at burning a hole through Solo's skull.  
  
"Duo, who is this guy? And why were you attacking him?" Wufei asked.  
  
"Duo? So, you're still Duo huh? I never did like that name. Kinda cheesy if you ask me. I always liked C-"  
  
"Shut the hell up Solo!"  
  
All eyes fell on Duo. The whole time he hadn't said a word, but apparently the peaceful silence was now over.  
  
"Calm down there shorty. And to answer you're question, whoever you are, I'm an old friend of .......Duo's." Solo motioned to Wufei, answering the question intended for Duo.  
  
The long pause before Solo said Duo's name did not go unnoticed. Heero and Trowa exchanged a quick look and nodded to each other. They didn't use their real names, it wasn't a big surprise that Duo was also a code name. 'I wonder what Duo's real name is?' Heero lost himself in thought, though from the outside he was as vigilant and ready as ever. 'It sounded like this guy Solo was about to say something with a C at the beginning. Hmm, maybe Chris?'  
  
"Well kid, I'm really ashamed, I'd thought someone woulda taught you better manners. Here I am, coming in peace, and you attack me, then you don't even have the decency to introduce me to your friends." Solo raised an eyebrow and made a tsking noise as he shook his head at Duo.  
  
"Fine. You want to be introduced. This is Heero, that's Trowa, the one over there with the ice pack is Quatre, and the one with the very large pointy sword is Wufei. By the way guys, I'm not going to try and kill him anymore, I promise. Now please can I get up. I can't stand being tied up. Please please please!" Not one of the warriors in the room could stand up too much of Duo's wining and quickly cut him loose. He had regained his composure and stood, rubbing his arms where the ropes had been holding him. 'I can't believe those guys tied me up, I'm they're friend. But noooo! They leave the complete stranger standing and have me tied to a chair. Rotten bunch of no good...' and so on and so on as Duo's mind rambled about the injustice's of being a teenage soldier.  
  
"Well, it's nice to meet you all. You seem like a fun bunch of guys, plus, you managed to contain shorty there, for that you all get major props. As he already said, the name's Solo. Don't have a last name, don't have a family, don't have much come to think of it." The smile he gave was extremely unnerving for some reason. As usual, Heero picked up on it the fastest, it was definitely that same cocky grin Duo always wore. 'These two must have been really close if Duo picked up a facial expression from him.'  
  
"So, Duo, how's the whole Gundam thing working for ya?"  
  
Immediately, weapons were drawn and the pilots tensed, all except for Duo.  
  
"Don't worry guys, Solo knew me back when I was training to be a pilot. And, he's probably figured out that I would find the other four pilots we didn't know about back then."  
  
"Of course, Duo, if he hadn't figured it out by now, you just told him!" Wufei yelled at the incompetent American.  
  
"Oops."  
  
A few sets of eyes rolled, but Solo's stayed fixed on Duo. Their eyes met, and for a few tense moments, it seemed like they might get into another brawl. Instead, Duo calmly walked up to him, grabbed him by his leather and pulled him toward his room. As Quatre began to protest, Duo commented as he passed by, "Don't worry, not gonna hurt him, just need to talk to him, catch up and all." He sent a dangerous look at all of them, "Alone."  
  
The door slamming stopped any of the pilots, who by now were feeling very left out and confused, from voicing their opinions. Guns were replaced to their holsters, and knives to their sheaths. Silence fell over the room, and glares abounded as the four waited, patiently, listening to the cd Duo had put on, obviously to cover up their conversation. 'I wonder what they're talking about, I don't seem to be getting the feeling that Duo really hates that guy. But then, why would he act like that. Hmm, quite the dilemma, and on the day of a mission too.' Poor Quatre thought as he strained to hear the muffled voices.  
  
* * * * *  
  
The two entered Duo's room, and after turning around and locking the door, Duo walked over to his cd player and put it on loud enough to drown out their conversation. 'Hey, maybe this is loud enough to keep them from hearing any noise as I strangle him.' Duo changed his mind though, knowing he couldn't break a promise, especially to Quatre. Solo, meanwhile, had been taking in the décor of the room, then turned around and looked Duo straight in the eyes, "Boy, it's been quite a while since I've been forcefully dragged to your room." A quick wink and Solo walked up to his short friend.  
  
"Solo," Duo warned as he got into a fighting stance.  
  
"Ha, yeah right kid." Solo launched forward, perfectly hiding his actions, and predicted that Duo would try and catch him with that same right hook to the stomach. He caught Duo's fist and then grabbed his other wrist. Using his strength and bulk, Solo slightly picked Duo up off the floor and threw him against the nearest wall, but quietly enough that the others wouldn't hear. Still holding both of Duo's arms to his sides, Solo stepped up, pressing against Duo, looking down the three or four inches that separated them. Duo tried to break free, or kick him, or anything to get away, but he was pinned fast, and Solo was stronger and faster than him. 'Argh, he was just playing with me in there, he was faking it, how could I have been so stupid. I can't believe I honestly thought I could beat him now.' Duo glared up, now that Solo had taken a slight step back, well, more like he leaned back.  
  
"Still not good enough....shorty." Solo smiled down as he used his favorite pet name. Duo tried one more time, struggling against the strong hands, but finally gave up on escaping. Solo, pleased that his old friend was now relaxed leaned forward. Their faces came closer and closer. Solo's eyes were matched up with Duo's, violet to gold, like a predator and his prey. The smaller boy was still, somewhere between fear, and friendship. Duo could feel Solo's hot breath against his face. He leaned even farther over, till their noses were side to side, and Solo looked down, his eyes half covered by his hair. "What's wrong, you seem tense...," then he looked up, once again meeting Duo's eyes, barely an inch away, all the two could see were each other's eyes, his next word was barely a hiss, dangerous, and challenging, "...Ciaran." The surprise and hurt in Duo's eyes was almost unbearable, but Solo kept staring, until Duo closed his eyes.  
  
Duo could almost feel his pride sliding down his throat, "Please Solo, let me up." The voice was quite, sad, and submissive. Realizing that he was overstepping his boundaries, both literally and figuratively, Solo released him and walked back to sit on his bed.  
  
"Sorry kid, anyway, why'd ya drag me away from all your fun friends?"  
  
"Why are you here?" Duo knew exactly why this ghost from the past was in his life once again, but he still wanted to hear it, and keep his mind off the way he'd reacted when pinned to the wall. 'No, I have a crush on Heero, I hate Solo. Keep it straight. Ha, straight, now there's a funny one, there's nothing straight about this situation.'  
  
"Well, I have a feeling that you know as well as I do why I'm here, or did you not notice the wings growing from your back the past couple of days?" Duo was seriously beginning to hate that grin of Solo's, so confident, and annoying.  
  
"Yeah, I guess I must have missed it." After taking a sigh, and trying his best to calm down, Duo continued. "So what are we going to do about this? You're here, whoop de do. The wings will still come even if you did arrive before they come fully, and how exactly do you propose I keep this a secret from the other guys?"  
  
'Wow, he talks fast, and that's a lot of questions I don't have the answers to. Of course, I really shouldn't have pinned him to a wall, or stressed the name thing so much. I bet he really does hate me.' "Well shorty, we're gonna have to hide the wings. After all, no one can know about this. Ever. Don't you forget that. Plus, it shouldn't be too hard. Just wear a long coat, like mine. And since I'm already here, we shouldn't have them for too long." Solo flashed one of his smiles, a real smile, or as real as his ever got.  
  
"Why wings? I never quite got that. It would have been so much easier if they'd given us birth marks or something. But noooo, they make us grow wings instead!" Duo gave in and laughed for a minute, just a minute, but that was enough for Solo.  
  
"Oh no, I forgot, we have a mission today! What am I going to do! There is no way that I'm leaving you here alone, or with any of the other guys for that matter."  
  
"And plus, that cockpit isn't going to be a comfortable place if you sprout while you're in there."  
  
"Yeah, and I hate cleaning blood out of there."  
  
The two shared a brief moment where neither was bent on annoying or killing one another, and then Duo decided he should go check on his poor friends in the other room. 'They probably think we were making out. Wonderful.'  
  
* * * * *  
  
"We should really go get those two. We need to go on this mission soon."  
  
"Calm down Quatre. Duo's dealing with his friend." Trowa reassured their shaky leader.  
  
The door down the hall finally opened, and down walked the two. Heero glared at Solo, and Solo gave him an arrogant look right back at him. "Uh guys, we all need to talk." Duo began as he sat on the couch next to Qautre. Solo shot him a hurt look as he realized there were no open seats next to him. 'Oh well, hehe, might as well have some fun while I'm here.'  
  
Heero had to use all his willpower to keep from stabbing, strangling, or in any other way killing Solo for the way he kept looking at Duo. It was a miracle that when Solo walked over to stand only a few feet away from Heero that both remained civilized.  
  
"Quatre, Solo's going to stay here for a few days. Only," Duo stressed the word, " a few days." 'Boy oh boy, am I glad that Howard let us use this place.'  
  
The pilots needed a place to keep their gundams and themselves until the mission, and Duo had asked Howard if he had a house and hangar that they could use for a few weeks. Conveniently, he did, and it was about as close as they could get to the base without being in OZ territory and blowing their cover. The front door of the house entered into the kitchen on the left, and the living room on the right, with no real barrier between the two. Duo, Wufei, and Heero's rooms were on the first floor, with a bathroom that the three shared. The rooms were down a hall from the living room, which had two couches and a few chairs, and of course, the tv. Up the stairs were Trowa and Quatre's rooms, another bathroom, and a room which had become a gym for the boys. Instead of leading to a backyard like most do, their backdoor went straight from the kitchen to a hangar where the gundams were kept. Normally, there would be a lot of guys from Howards team staying in the house while working on mobile suits, so there was a lot of space and each boy was able to have his own room.  
  
"Umm, Duo? What are we going to do about Solo today?"  
  
"I don't really know, do you guys have any ideas?"  
  
"All I know is that I am not babysitting him!"  
  
"I feel a little insulted, I'm not a baby! And I don't need to be sat. Hey! Do you guys have guns in this house!"  
  
"There's no way we can leave him alone, he'll kill something."  
  
"I agree, but Wufei refuses to be left alone with him, and the rest of us are busy."  
  
"How about we just kill him."  
  
"Heero!"  
  
"Quatre!"  
  
"Heero."  
  
"Duo?"  
  
"Trowa..."  
  
"Heero."  
  
"Wufei?"  
  
"Duo!"  
  
"Solo." The five pilots' bickering stopped, and everyone was silent in the house. Five confused pairs of eyes fell on Solo, who had on an idiot's grin.  
  
"What, I felt left out!"  
  
"So you say your own name! What's wrong with you!" Duo shouted, then took a breath to calm himself down, and made a decision that he hoped he wouldn't be regretting.  
  
"Look, what if Wufei goes on the mission instead of me, and I'll stay here and keep an eye on Solo and make sure he doesn't blow anything up."  
  
Solo flashed a kid-who-just-got-a-new-toy-that-he-can-kill-people-with grin. Quatre could feel his heart telling him that this was a good idea. 'I don't know why, but leaving Duo with Solo seems right. Even though all they seem to do is yell and attack each other.'  
  
"Good idea, but Wufei's leg is hurt, he can't take your position Duo." Once again, Trowa was left to point out the less noticeable problem.  
  
"Well, how about if I go in and back Heero up, and Wufei can provide cover in my place." Quatre smiled at the others, especially Duo, who seemed relieved that they found a way of keeping him at home with Solo.  
  
"My leg is healing well. I know I'll be fine piloting Nataku, as long as we're not forced into hand to hand."  
  
"Thanks Wufei. I owe you one."  
  
"Yes you do Maxwell, and I will make you pay me back."  
  
"Ooh, kinky." Duo winked at Wufei, who he loved to antagonize. Unfortunately, he missed the brief death glare Solo gave to Wufei when Duo made the crude joke. 'If that Chinese kid comes anywhere close to Duo, I'll show him some real hand to hand.'  
  
"We should get going. Are you sure you two will be okay?" Despite the fact that it was directed to both of them, Heero kept his eyes locked on Solo. 'I don't care what Duo or Qautre seem to think, I don't trust him. This mission better end fast.'  
  
"Well, nice meetin you guys! I hope we can hang out some later!" Solo shouted at their backs, while casually hanging an arm around Duo's shoulders. Duo shrugged the arm off and ran after the other pilots.  
  
"Hey guys, don't worry, I'll be fine." Trowa looked suprised that the pilot 02 had been able to tell that they were worried about leaving him.  
  
"Blow something up for me!"  
  
"We will Duo!" Qautre shouted from inside the cockpit of Sandrock. All four gundams took off and flew out of the hangar, leaving Duo standing in their wake, his braid being blown around him. 'Good luck you guys.'  
  
From behind him, Duo felt an arm quickly wrap around his left side, pinning his arm down, then it reached across him, grabbing his right arm in a strong grasp. Duo snarled back at Solo and began to try and get away. Instead, he just made it worse for himself as Solo wrapped his right arm around Duo's throat. For a minute, everything froze. All Duo could think about was if he had made a mistake that would cost him and his friends their lives.  
  
"Quiet you're struggling. I ain't gonna hurt ya shorty." Solo said, even as he made sure that his grips were tight enough so his little friend couldn't get away.  
  
Duo made some sort of noise from his constricted throat as he began to thrash around again. Solo was forced to hang on for dear life, and continue to keep his hold on the wild child. Then, Duo slumped quietly in his arms. 'Uh oh, I hope I didn't keep him from breathing for too long!' Solo gently let his arms relax, and, before he knew what was happening, Duo had grabbed his arms and swung himself around to face his aggressive friend.  
  
"Hey, faker!" Solo shouted even as Duo swiped his legs out from under him. As soon as he hit the floor, Duo grabbed onto his shoulders, and set his knees on either side of Solo's.  
  
After getting over the shock of being knocked down, Solo glared up at, to his suprise, a smiling and panting Duo. He was standing on all fours, his weight and position keeping even Solo from moving. Duo couldn't believe it, he had beaten Solo in one of his own dominance/submission games. 'Woo-hoo, I won. Oh yeah, who's the man.'  
  
Solo's mind, on the other hand, was focused on the fact that his pant's were a little tighter than usual. Then, a wicked idea struck the blonde. He made a quick jerk, bringing his and Duo's chest, then stomach, then hips grinding together. Duo's eye's shot open, and he joined the tight pants club with his friend. 'Oh man, not now, I can't believe this. Oh, as if the situation isn't bad enough.'  
  
"Ah!"  
  
Solo's brief yell completely caught Duo off guard.  
  
"Wings!"  
  
"You want chicken wings, now?" Duo asked, confused, but still pinning Solo to the ground.  
  
"No you idiot. Our wings, now, we need to get to the bathroom!"  
  
Duo finally got his mind off his pants and realized the tingly sensation on his back had returned.  
  
"Oh crap!" Duo let Solo up and the two made a mad dash for the downstairs bathroom  
  
* * * * * * 


	4. A boy named Ciaran

* * * * * *  
  
"Qautre, down!" Heero yelled as he turned around firing two shots exactly where Qaure's head had been a second ago. The OZ soldier fell to the ground, his eyes still as defiant as ever.  
  
The two boys continued running down the hallways, taking the turns that they had memorized over and over again on their way to the base. Qautre ran behind Heero, both of them checking each other's backs and gunning down any soldier they came in contact with. Their mission was complete. They had sent out the information to the laptop at home and Duo had used the hacker skills he had been taught to outrun the virus. Now, it was a simple matter of getting to their gundams and getting out.  
  
Heero grabbed onto the right corner of the doorway that led to the last corridor to the exit facing the Sandrock and Wing Zero. As he flung himself in that direction, he came face to face with about ten gun toting soldiers. Suddenly, a small metallic ping was heard before Qautre reached around and covered Heero's eyes with a pair of sunglasses. The portable specially made flare lit the entire area in a blinding white light. The two gundam pilots new it was their cue and dodged the blinded men and made it out the final door into the crisp pine scent of the woods surrounding the base.  
  
"Remind me to thank Duo for letting me borrow that." Quatre shouted to Heero as they ran through the tall trees. They resembled ancient Greek creatures, with the moonlight streaming through the pine needles, falling across their features as they sprinted with almost animal grace.  
  
The rumble of the ground beneath their feet almost threw them off balance, but before the next shot was fired, they had made it to their mobile suits. Heero quickly threw of the net that was hiding both gundams as Qautre lept right into the cockpit of his Sandrock. Within a few minutes, both gundams were up and running toward the battle where they could see it was not going well.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
The Shenlong flew in and around the enemy suits. With a flick of a joystick, the dragon took off the heads of half a dozen suits surrounding Wufei. Then, he aimed at the largest group of OZ fighters and turned his dragon's fire on high. He had to repress one of Heero's maniacal laughter fits after seeing everything he could burn to a cinder with the barest motion.  
  
"They've made it safely inside the complex."  
  
Wufei nodded at the image of Trowa on the screen. At first, they're part in the mission was to create havoc and distractions, now, they had to keep the enemy from discovering the other two gundams, or their pilots.  
  
The Heavyarms came running up alongside the fast gundam and began to do his own damage. Saving his melee attack in case of an emergency later on, he brought his gattling gun up to position. A few rounds to that suits chest, a few to that one's head. 'Hey, where'd all these guys come from!' Trowa thought as he turned around, his gundam's alarms going off. Before he even had a chance to fully turn his gundam around, the Leo behind him slashed at him with the beam sword it was carrying. Seeing the tip of his gattling gun fall smoldering to the pine covered ground, Trowa realized that this was not going to be an easy fight.  
  
Wufei's double blade cut a Leo in half and his gundam had moved onto the next even before it exploded. He cut off the arm of the next one in his path, before decapitating it. Behind it, through an orange haze was an entire line of troops. 'Oh, this is bad, we need Qautre and Heero out here fast. This is no where close to a fair fight, me and Trowa are going to be killed if we don't get some help.' Dodging to the side, the Shenlong delivered a fatal gouge through the chest of an oncoming Leo.  
  
Meanwhile, Heavyarms' chest had flipped open to reaveal a whole new set of guns. Trowa was a little upset that he'd had to get rid of his favorite weapon so early in the battle because it had been melted off. So, as any good gundam pilot would have done, he took out his anger on every mobile suit that came his way. Firing with the most deadly accuracy he could, suits began to fall in waves in front of all the bullets he was laying down in front of them. The waves that fell, were all too quickly replaced by new suits. One particular Leo was intelligent enough to realize that a one on one battle with 03 was going to leave them all dead. He used his suit to pick up a fellow Leo, and placed it in front of him to use as a shield. The Leo made a last desperate charge at the gundam, firing with every last peice of his being.  
  
Wufei gritted his teeth as another shot hit home. The Shenlong was flung back and almost lost it's balance. Turning his boosters on high, his gundam rocketed forward, and the pilot didn't even seem to notice the trickle of blood falling down his face from the last hit he had taken. Slicing through yet another line of persistent mobile suits, Wufei caught sight of a white suit on the ground. Through all the smoke of the battle, he couldn't tell which gundam it was. Leaving the fallen corpses of the metal soldiers, he ran to find out which suit had fallen. Upon seeing the state the Heavyarms was in, Wufei couldn't figure out why it wasn't still up and firing.  
  
"Hey Trowa, get up, now! We have a situation here." Static was all that followed.  
  
"Trowa, come on, answer, move, do something." Wufei began to feel the dread that he knew came with premonitions as he reached over with the Shenlong and began to pick up the motionless gundam. 'He better not be dead.' Wufei mentally threatened his partner.  
  
'Huh, what, what happened?' Trowa wondered as he sat up in his restraints. Looking around, he saw nothing but darkness. 'Oh crap.' He frantically began to push every button, and pull every lever in his gundam's cockpit, but nothing moved. 'It's just like last time, that last hit must have knocked my new system offline. The Heavyarms wasn't ready to come into battle today, I knew I should have taken more time to repair it.' A blast from outside his mobile suit stopped any ideas Trowa was having about making a run from his crippled Heavyarms.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Heero, watch your back!" Qautre yelled over the comlink as his heat shotels took care of the Leo's trying to sneak up on a pre-occupied Zero.  
  
Zero wasn't taking any chances, his buster rifle was out and he was aiming for any group he deamed large enough for the attack. Slowly, Heero was making a path for he and the Sandrock to take to get in contact with the others and get out. 'I wonder why Trowa isn't answering, and Wufei doesn't seem to be making much sense.'  
  
Sandrock ran to the side of Wing Zero and sliced a Leo in half, through it's head and chest. Then, he turned around with the speed he had acquired from numerous battles and cut down the three suits behind he and Heero with a half moon swipe from each side. Qautre had time to cross the shotels over, leaving him standing in his usual battle position at the backs of the suits that were about to blow up.  
  
"Quatre, come quick, Heavyarms is down."  
  
Qautre grabbed the controls for his thrusters and took off, following Zero, which had now become it's bird jet self. As soon as the two reached the clearing where Trowa's suit was on the ground, they were both relieved. Standing over it, guarding it from the onslaught of Leos was the Shenlong. It paused just long enough in it's flame throwing to let the other two gundams to get close.  
  
"Heero, Wufei, keep me safe." Quatre smiled at them over their screens as he slipped on the headphones he used when they needed to communicate outside their gundams. The cockpit opened and was immediately filled by black smoke. Quatre held back a cough and jumped down onto his gundam's leg, and then to each platform he could get to until he had reached the Heavyarm's chest.  
  
"Trowa, open up!'  
  
Nothing happened and it occured to Qautre that he might be dead already.  
  
"Trowa if you're okay in there please, say something!"  
  
"Qautre...the system's down, I can't even get the cockpit open!"  
  
Qautre sighed, immensely relieved that his best friend lived. Now the only problem was getting him out of the gundam.  
  
"Qautre, if you guys can get me somewhere safe, someone outside can use the emergency latch to blow off the door."  
  
Qautre pulled his ear away from the cold metal and pressed the button on his headphones. "Guys, we need to get the Heavyarms somewhere safe, out best bet would be to take him to the safehouse so we can get him out of there."  
  
"Right Qautre. Heero, the Wing Zero can fly the fastest and carry the most weight. You've carried the Heavyarms before, you'll have to do it again." Wufei yelled even as he slashed through another pair of Leos who had gotten too close for their own good.  
  
"Roger that." With one quick movement, Zero was standing between the Sandrock and Heavyarms. It's huge hand bent down, landing beside Quatre. Realizing a free ride when he saw one, he climbed into the hand and held on tight. Heero carefully manauvered his gundam to place the small passenger at his cockpit once again. Then, he transformed into Wing's bird mode. The Sandrock, which was once again operational helped to hook the still mobile suit onto the hovering one.  
  
"Okay, you're set to go Heero."  
  
"Good luck you two, me and Qautre will guard your escape."  
  
"Thanks. Don't worry, I'll take care of Trowa."  
  
The gundams flew off, heading toward the safehouse at top speed, leaving the metallic carnage of the battlefield behind you. With his usual stony expression, Heero could think only one thing. 'I'm coming back Duo.'  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Go faster kid!" Solo yelled as he tore his shirt over his head, as fast as he could as he ran down the hall.  
  
"Shut up, I'm going as fast as I can!" Duo yelled back, as he hopped on one foot, his pants halfway pulled off.  
  
Solo and Duo ran into the bathroom and Solo quickly unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. Duo consciously began to hunch over in pain, so Solo wouldn't see him ogling at his incredibly nice body. 'Wow, he did not look that good last time I saw him without a shirt. Hoo buddy!'  
  
'Ha, he's trying not to stare at me. How cute.' Solo grinned as he kicked his pants off, aiming perfectly and burst out laughing when they landed on the already occupied Duo's head.  
  
"AHH!"  
  
"Hahaha. Calm down there shorty, their just a pair of pants. You really shou-ah!" Before he could finish tormenting Duo, Solo fell to his knees, still wearing his blue boxers that he hadn't had a chance to take off. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on anything other than the extreme pain in his back. Looking up, he could tell that Duo was in the same situation he was. The skin of their backs was being pulled straight up, by the things emerging from beneath. Stretching out as far as he could, Duo tried every position, trying to make the experience more comfortable, but it was all in vain. They began to pant as blood flowed down in droplets to the tile floor. 'At least it'll be easy to wash up.'  
  
"Ahhh." Solo moaned in pain as he doubled over even more, till his head was resting on the floor. Duo couldn't help but let his jaw hang open as he heard Solo's groan...he could see them, the bloody bulges coming through his torn skin. 'I will not hurl. I will not hurl. I will not hurl. I've seen plenty of blood and gore in the war, this is nothing.'  
  
Just then, Solo's back decided to split all the way to his knees, making a sound like that of tearing a wet paper towel. Duo stuck his head in the toilet and dry heaved, being thankful that they'd been in the bathroom to begin with. Then, he felt someone's hands rubbing his sides gently, avoiding the gash of where his wings were coming out, and reminding him of when he was a kid, always having someone there to take care of him. When it registered that the hands belonged to Solo though, Duo felt even sicker, and not the pleasant nauseous kind that goes away when you throw up. He threw himself back into the doubled over position on the cold tile, which had his and Solo's blood smeared over it. Solo tried to inch closer, sliding on the life he had spilled on the floor, but stopped when Duo tried to move away from him, but the pain kept him frozen to the spot. Slowly, both pairs of wings continued their struggle to emerge. Then, with a sickening jolt, the tips of both wing bones cleared the edge of the gash. The pain was gone in an instant, left with a strange dull ache as the skin healed itself.  
  
Duo tried to catch the breath he had stopped taking when the pain of the end of the experience had gotten too much for him. He raised his eyes to see Solo already standing. On his back, reaching a full two feet above him and dragging the tips on the floor, were Solo's wings. Right now, he resembled a fallen angel motife. Blood covered all but a few select places. These which had been spared from the scarlet flood were a pale white. The feathers clung to each other, weighed down by the immense amount of blood. Solo's hair, also streaked red, along with the blood streaks on his bare chest gave him a very intimidating look. He looked like he'd just killed everything near him, without regretting a minute of it.  
  
Duo, still a little shaky, stood up. Slowly, he began to flex the muscles which now had room to move, outside of his constrained back. He looked up and noticed that the 'elbow' of his wing was about half a foot shorter than Solo's. Both their wings matched each other perfectly. A long bone which was connected to their spine stretched out from their back. Then, another bone connected to the first in a joint that pointed toward their bodies and ended about a foot above each boy's head. Then, a long, light and easily moved bone stretched to the floor. Duo's wings were covered in a thin, skin- like black covering. Solo, on the other hand, had white feathers, which, at this time, were stained in splotches of crimson. He too flexed his muscles, spreading his wings as far as he could in the small bathroom.  
  
Glancing into the mirror, Duo realized just how much blood he had gotten on himself. He would have a much easier time though, cleaning off the skin of his wings, opposed to the feathers of Solo. Grinning at his angel look alike counterpart, and, in a perfectly clear, unwavering sarcastic voice, Duo said, "You know, this is all your fault."  
  
///////////////////////////////////Duo////////////////////////////////////  
  
"Solo, please, please open your eyes." I can feel hot tears welling up in my eyes. I look down at Solo. I don't understand it, he has the antidote, I gave it to him, why isn't he getting better. He lays perfectly still, his skin is pale and his body shudders with each breath. His eyes open and are hazy, with a far-away look to them as he stares at me. He opens his pale, dry lips, saying, "Boy's don't cry Ciaran. You know that. I'm not worth cryin for anyways."  
  
I wipe my sleeves across my eyes to get rid of the traitorous drops. "You are worth it, you're worth anything Solo. You're my best friend. Please, please don't die. Ya can't leave me here alone."  
  
"We're best friends kid. I'll never leave you. I promise, I'll always be with you." The next breath he tries to take seems to get caught in his throat, like he's choking on something. "Solo. Solo?" His eyes don't even seem human anymore, they're lifeless, but his body keeps fighting to take a breath. I lean down towards him, placing my hands on his cheeks, trying to shake him into breathing. What's that weird sound? It's kind of like a gurgling noise.  
  
I can feel my eyes widen as a small drop of blood is coughed up by Solo's body. It falls to the ground, along with a trail that's now flowing out of his mouth. I can't breath. I can't feel my body. He's choking on his own blood. He's dying the same way all the others did.  
  
That's it. The body's stopped moving. No no no. Solo, you can't be dead. I lay down and curl my back against his stomach.  
  
"Come on Solo, you can wake up. You're tougher then any of us were. You can do it. You're not dead." The cold body behind me, unmoving, is not reassuring my denial at all. I gently pull his stiff arms around me. It's just like you used to do for me on cold nights, right Solo. The hot tears are back again. I can't control them. He wouldn't want me to cry, I know he wouldn't, but I just can't stop. Why? Why did he have to die. I want him back. I'd do anything to get him back.  
  
Slowly, my eyes close over the tears as I feel myself drifting into unconsciousness. The energy in my body leaves, as I fall asleep in the embrace of death.  
  
My eyes shoot open. There is nothing but blackness all around me. Maybe my eyes aren't really open at all. This is a dream. I can hear something, what is that?  
  
"You will always be together, you are two of a kind, one and the other, never will you be separated. You must be together, forever." The voice, wait, is it even a voice? It's a dream, I can't really tell if I'm hearing this or if I just know it. Either way, I know what the words are, even if I don't really hear them. "Together forever, Solo and Ciaran. Forever, Ciaran. Ciaran. Ciaran." Suddenly, the strange dream voice has turned into Solo's. Huh? Where is he, I can't see anything.  
  
My eyes slowly open, and take in my surroundings. I'm in the alley. The alley where we lived, and where he died. It's dark, it must be night already. Then I realize that the corpse's arms have been removed from around me.  
  
"Huh. That's weird. Who would take him away from me?"  
  
"Hey shorty, you gonna wake up or am I gonna have to jump on ya like always?"  
  
My heart beats a few times in those seconds of hearing that voice. It must have all been a dream, he's alive. The voice is coming from behind me. As a role over I yell out "Solo!" Then I stop. That's not him. It's not my Solo.  
  
He stands there, looking sad, I've never seen him look sad before.  
  
"Oh. I see. This is still a dream. So, guess that means you really did die like all the others. Oh well." I look past his face, he has wings. Big, white wings. All feathery and angel-like. They look like they're coming from his back. "Wow Solo. I never would have thought that you'd become an angel when you died. So, are you a guardian angel or something? Oh, or maybe you're a ghost here to haunt me!"  
  
He looks at me like I've lost my mind. Yeah right, you're the one with wings buddy.  
  
"I'm not dead Ciaran."  
  
"No. Don't you say that name. You're not really him, you can't be. I don't wanna ever hear anyone say that name again." I can't help but think back to the day Solo found me on the street, and we picked out that name. He said that a person's name is one of the most important things about them, and he wanted it to be a special one. It was. At least to me.  
  
"Listen Ciar-"  
  
"No! I said not to call me that."  
  
"Fine, well then what should I call ya then?" The angel-Solo looked frustrated with me. Ha. Sucks for him.  
  
"Call me....uhh....ah, call me Duo." I smile at my ingenious new name. This way I'll always remember poor Solo.  
  
"Fine, Duo then. I'm not dead. I'm right here. This is me, Solo, you're best friend."  
  
"Yeah, whatever Solo-ghost. So why are you here? Are you gonna be my guardian angel? I could use one." The apparition takes a step back and his jaw hangs open a little. Then he smiles and laughs. Even if he isn't real, I still like the sound of his laugh.  
  
"I'm no angel kid. Listen, I need you to accept that I'm real. We need to talk about a few things."  
  
I can't help but give him a skeptical look. Come on, it's an image of my dead best friend with wings. But hey, I've always been an open minded street brat. "Sure. Start yer talkin."  
  
"Okay, well, first off, you better look at yourself." He takes a step closer to me. I tense my body, just in case. He sees this and just smiles, after all, he's the one who taught me to do that when someone advanced at me. He reaches over my head and pulls on something. I can feel it. It's not my head, or my hair. And he's not reaching down far enough for it to be my back. But I can feel it being tugged on, like it's a part of me. He grabs onto my shoulder and turns me to face one of the broken down buildings on the side of the alley. There's a broken window, the glass still hanging in the bottom half. In it, I can see him with his white wings. And, to my surprise, I'm there too. And I have wings. Big, black wings. Oh no, I knew it, I died too. He became an angel and I got stuck being a devil. Wonderful.  
  
"So how come you're an angel and I'm a demon. I don't get it."  
  
"We're not angels or demons kid. Sure, we may have the wings, but they're nothing but new parts. Like an extra arm or leg. It doesn't mean we have any special powers or nothin like that."  
  
"Okay, so we're not new creatures. Just got some new limbs."  
  
"Exactly. When I died, something happened. I don't know what. But it seemed like I was dreaming, everything I could see was a shadow. Like there wasn't stuff there. Then, I just kinda understood what was goin on. You know, when you're in a dream and suddenly you understand what's happening. Even if no one's told you." I shake my head. I've had that happen in dreams before. Like when I'm running from something, but I don't know what it is, but I'm scared to death of it. It's like I know that it's gonna hurt me if it catches me.  
  
"Well, I just suddenly knew. You and I are somehow connected. I don't know why, or who did it. But we have to be together. Neither of us can die. I couldn't die without you because we're connected. You followin?"  
  
"I think so. But what do the wings have to do with anything?"  
  
"It's the way of keeping us together. When we're separated, either too far away, by, say dying." He grins at me. I can't help it, I smile back. This dream is fun. It's nice, and I kind of like the ghost of my friend. "Anyway, also, if we're away from each other for too long a time, then we get these wing thingies comin out of our backs. You get it?"  
  
"Yeah, I think so. So you're saying all this just came to you suddenly when you," I pause and fight down the sarcasm in my tone, "died?"  
  
"Yep, can't say why. Or how. Or who. Come to think of it, I don't know much, except that it's really happening. So-" He stops suddenly. My eyes widen, something's wrong. He's bent over in pain. Then, I find myself staring at the ground. It's gotten suddenly closer. My back feels like it's on fire. I can feel my muscles on my back, some I never even knew I had, begin to move. My wings flap back and forth, powerfully. It hurts. It hurts so much. More than a knife cut even. I begin to scream. I want anything, a noise, a voice, something to take my thoughts off the pain. Then, a hand is clamped over my mouth. I look up, and relax as I realize it belongs to Solo.  
  
"Hey kid, you wanna..." he stops and leans over as the pain surges in both of us and we can't focus on words anymore. "keep it quiet over there. We don't want anyone to come by and find us." He looks at me, his eyes wide with what I could only say was fear. The real Solo was never afraid. But now I realize, it's not fear, it's disgust. He looks like he hates the world. Like he hates himself. What's wrong with him.  
  
I try to contain another shout of pain as it feels like a hundred knives are cutting up my back. I look down, and for some reason, it surprises me that there's blood dripping off of me. A puddle has formed beneath me and the make believe Solo. Ghosts don't bleed.  
  
Finally, the pain stopped. As I opened the eyes I didn't realize I'd closed, I saw that there was no longer an angel-Solo. The feathery appendages were gone. Stretching my arms back as far as they would twist, I can tell that the devil wings I had seen in the glass are gone too. Replaced by blood. And the strange feeling that I should weigh more.  
  
"Shh. It's okay now kid. The pain's gone." Strong arms wrap around me from behind and he nuzzles against my neck. It's comforting, even though it's coming from a dead man. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry Ci--." He pauses and I feel him tense with pain, and anger. "I'm sorry Duo. Now you should get some rest kid." Despite the fact that I struggle, he pulls me down to lay on my side on the cold ground. He arms close tighter, holding me close and warm. He's the only family I have. He's the closest to a family I have. Slowly, I can feel my eyes start to close. The chest behind me moves in and out quietly, warmly. So different from a corpse. I can feel myself falling asleep, and I can't help but hope that he really is alive, there, behind me.  
  
My eyes open up. I'm cold. So very cold. The arms are gone. I look around. Solo, the body is gone. Maybe I dreamed it all. I must have. So much for ghosts. I walk down that alleyway, hoping my next life will be a happier one.  
  
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////  
  
"What do you mean this is my fault! Are ya kiddin! This is way more your fault that mine!"  
  
Honestly, Duo hadn't expected quite that much of a reaction. But he smirked and was happy, his new purpose in life was to bug his blonde counterpart. Putting his hands on his hips in his usual defiant position, Duo smirked even more, as much as he could. "Oh come on. I had nothing to do with all this. It all started with you. I was just an innocent bystander."  
  
He would have continued, but he noticed that Solo's head was hanging. His entire body was very still, so tense that it almost shook. His wings were taught and pulled against him. Then, he looked up and charged at Duo. "Hey- " Duo tried to get his arms free, thinking that he'd finally pissed Solo off a little too much. 'He's gonna kill me. That's it, I'm done for.'  
  
Solo released his hold on Duo's arms and then pulled him into a desperate hug. He pulled the smaller boy into him, folding him up in his arms, against his bare bloody chest. Duo was speechless. He had no clue how to react. He had been preparing for a fight, and was now being hugged as if he were the only thing that could save Solo now. His reactions took over and he leaned farther against him, enjoying the feeling of safety. Neither one knew nor cared how long they stood with each other. Finally, Solo's arms went slack and he took a few steps away. Duo looked up, and was relieved to see the usual, happy go lucky, non-homicidal Solo looking back.  
  
  
  
Okay readers, I have to cut this chapter right there. Alas, Fanfiction.net will not allow NC-17, and I really don't want to butcher my fic, so if you want the next chapter, you have two choices. Email me at tmbrwolf113@adelphia.net and I'll send you the next chapter, or you can go to where I keep my fic on my homepage. Enjoy! http://www.angelfire.com/gundam/zero10/Pastbecomesyou.txt 


	5. Haunting Memory

If you want to know what happened to Duo and Solo in the shower, you'll have to read about it on my website. Sorry, blame FFN. ^_~ leave a review, and here's the address. http://www.angelfire.com/gundam/zero10/Pastbecomesyou.txt  
  
  
  
* * * *  
  
Solo's eyes fluttered open as he woke up from a very peaceful sleep. 'Where am I again?' Looking down at the body laying on him, all the memories of what he'd just done came flying back. When he looked down at the boy sleeping on top of him, he didn't see the angelic face of his lover. Nor did he see the demon known as Shinigami who plagued Oz. All that Solo could see was the greatest mistake he'd ever made.  
  
'All the pain I've caused him. All the troubles in the past, problems with lovers, hell, everything that's gone wrong for him started with me. Duo, you would have been much better off without me.'  
  
He brought up his hand and began to gently stroke Duo's head. 'Wow, soft hair. I shouldn't have forced him into that. I knew he didn't want to, but nooo, Solo. You just needed a good screw right then and there. Argh, he's gonna be pissed when he wakes up.'  
  
Suddenly Solo stopped petting his Duo. 'Well, I don't want him to wake up then.' Unfortunately, it was too late and Duo began to move around in his sleep. He wriggled back and forth as he tried to get comfortable on Solo's hard body, which wasn't making the best pillow in the world.  
  
Duo realized that he was starting to wake up and had his usual reaction. "No...I don wanna!" He mumbled and tried to grab onto his pillow. After trying to grab onto ribs for a while, his memory started to come back and he realized it wasn't a pillow. His eyes slowly opened, and he stared into the face of Solo.  
  
"Morning Solo."  
  
"Morning kid." Duo blinked up at him and smiled. It had been quite a while since either of them had had someone to wake up to. Solo gently closed his wings around his young lover, hugging him tightly.  
  
"We really need to do more of this friendly bonding stuff." Solo grinned mischievously down at Duo and shrugged his eyebrows suggestively.  
  
"Haha. You'd like that, wouldn't you." Duo paused and smiled back up at Solo. He was so comfortable. He felt like nothing in the world could disturb him. The world was going just fi--. Duo's thoughts stopped altogether. Like someone had hit pause on a remote.  
  
"Solo, how long have we been asleep?"  
  
"Probably a few hours, why?"  
  
Duo just stared blankly ahead.  
  
"What's the matter kid?"  
  
Without saying a word, Duo struggled out of Solo's embrace and flung open the shower door. He jumped out of the shower and ran out of the bathroom. 'What was all that about?' Solo wondered as he walked around the bathroom, putting on any clothes that were still blood free.  
  
Duo sprinted out of the bathroom. After having been asleep for so long, all of him except his hair had dried. He ran down the hallway and swung himself on the banister into the living room. Two more strides and he was at the table, and more importantly, the laptop. 'Oh please, please don't let me have missed it. I finally get Heero to trust me, and let me have an important part of a mission, and I got blow it over Solo.' Duo snarled at the thought of Solo, the new bane of his existence.  
  
He quickly typed in the passwords it took to turn on the small laptop. 'Damn Heero and his passwords.' After the fourth time, Duo was finally into the section of the computer he needed to be. He quickly checked for any messages received in the past twelve hours, but there wasn't anything. 'Phew, guess the mission must have run long, they're fifteen minutes late.' Duo began to prepare the rest of the computer, so he would be ready whenever the message came through.  
  
"You know, you really should put on some clothes before you talk to your buddies."  
  
Duo glanced over towards the stairs. Solo was leaning against the banister in his jeans from the day before, but no shirt. His wings were now back to their normal white. Duo had to admit, they were very soft to wake up covered in.  
  
"They'll just assume I was taking a shower." Duo shot back as he began to braid his hair and returned his gaze to the screen.  
  
Solo walked back down the hallway and stepped into Duo's room. After a few minutes of rummaging in the piles of clothes on the floor, he returned to the living room with a button up black shirt.  
  
"Hey kid, how much do you like this shirt?" Duo looked up and shrugged.  
  
"I don't know, it's just a shirt. If you want it you can have it." Duo was slowly loosing his patience for Solo and hoped he would just leave him alone soon.  
  
Instead, Solo turned the shirt to the back and tore from the bottom of the shirt almost all the way to the top. He did the same to the other side. Then he looked up and tossed it over to Duo. The shirt fluttered down and landed on the tips of Duo's wings.  
  
"Unless your shower has magically wing giving powers, I suggest you cover those things up when you talk to your friends." Solo just crossed his arms and remained lurking where he was as Duo slipped on the shirt. His wings fit nicely through the slits Solo had made, but he still had to hold them close against his back to keep them out of site.  
  
"So shorty, do you have a jacket or something you can wear over that shirt to keep em hidden?"  
  
Duo finished braiding his hair and returned his hand to the mouse of the keyboard. There was no way he was missing his part of the mission. Distractions or no distractions.  
  
"Uh, yeah, in my closet, I have a trench coat I can wear." Duo wasn't really paying attention and didn't notice when Solo once again walked down towards his room.  
  
"Here ya go kid. Oh, and I ain't your butler, I just don't want you to go and be stupid and get yourself found out." Duo once again found himself the aim of a piece of clothing. After taking the trench coat off his head, he slipped it over his tucked up wings. In the reflection, he saw that there was now no trace of his wings, for which he was immensely grateful. 'Yeah, there's an interesting conversation. Heero, I think I'm in love with you. But while you were out on a mission I screwed my old best friend Solo. And, oh yeah, I have these freakish looking devil wings coming out of my back, and Solo's got angel ones. So, wanna go out some time?' Duo just sighed and continued to play a game of minesweeper on the computer. 'He'll never feel the same way about me, why do I even try.'  
  
"Eh hem." At the sound of Solo clearing his throat, Duo turned around and glared at the blond winged one. "So kid, do you think it's me?" Solo stood there grinning like an idiot, spinning around like a child modeling clothes for their parents. Now, added to his jeans from yesterday, he wore Duo's red silk shirt. 'Oh no, please tell me...' Duo's thought was cut off as Solo turned completely around and he saw the white wings showing through the tears in his shirt. Solo also tucked his wings under, but Duo knew he would just wear that old crappy leather coat he always wore.  
  
"You know, the least you could do is ask. I happen to like that shirt." Duo glared, and once again, Solo matched it with a smirk. Duo had a faint feeling that he was in the wrong place, but shrugged it off.  
  
"Sorry, I just assumed..."  
  
"Well maybe you should quit just assuming things Solo. Things change." After Duo's interruption, the last two words were said with an incredibly bitter tone.  
  
"Oh great. Here it comes. Here comes your 'let's pretend it was all Solo's fault and put all the blame and guilt on him. Jeez kid, you can't fake with me. I've known you longer and better than anyone. I know that you wanted what happened as much as I did, and I know you would have gotten it one way or another."  
  
Duo was taken back by Solo's harsh tone. Normally he was so calm and collected. 'Well, looks like I've found something that bothers him.' Duo grinned and opened his mouth to continue the argument when a beep brought his attention back.  
  
"The message." He said calmly as his fingers began typing and moving the mouse around. The message was received, copied, saved, and sent away once again in a few seconds.  
  
"Mission accomplished." Duo said over the computer to Quatre who was in a window on the screen.  
  
"Good job Duo, we've run into a few problems here, we're going to be late for dinner." The Arabian boy smiled at his friend as he tossed a grenade down the hallway.  
  
'Only in my world is that a normal, reassuring thing.' Duo thought, but his attention immediately focused on the figure in the background. There was no mistaking the green tanktop and black spandex. 'I need to take that boy shopping for some real clothes.'  
  
"Over and out Quatre, see ya when you guys get back. Stay safe." Duo waved goodbye and shut down the connection.  
  
"Aww, how sweet. You guys are good friends huh?" Duo ignored Solo and walked past him, heading for the kitchen.  
  
"He's cute, I like blonds."  
  
"Solo, you like anything that's human."  
  
"True." Solo just grinned at Duo's back and followed him into the kitchen to get some food. * * * * *  
  
Solo walked into the kitchen behind Duo, needless to say, enjoying the view. His eyes swept up and down Duo's back, from his feet, up his legs, past the shirt and trench coat he wore, and along his long hair.  
  
"So, what's for lunch kid?"  
  
"Whatever you can make. You know I'm not a good cook." Duo sneered back at Solo, not letting the fact that he was pantless get in the way of bothering his old friend.  
  
"And," Duo began to add," we don't have time to eat right now." The puzzled and let down look on Solo's face was almost enough to make Duo smile. Almost.  
  
"What do we have to do that can't wait another fifteen minutes?" Solo asked. He had by now caught up to Duo, and wrapped his arms around the small boy's waist. He struggled as usual, trying to get away, but Solo could tell it was half-hearted.  
  
"We have to clean up the mess we made in the bathroom." Duo said as he reached out and began to wet a few towels.  
  
"But Duo, that's the good thing about the shower, when you get it on in there, there's no mess to cl-" Solo was cut off as Duo reached behind his own head and slapped a wet towel on the taller boy's face. Taking his chance, he squeezed out of Solo's grip and began to walk towards the bathroom.  
  
"The blood you idiot. Come on, half of that blood is yours, and I ain't gonna clean up your mess." Duo shouted back at his friend. He felt his wrist taken in the strong grip of Solo and could sense what was coming. Solo grabbed his other wrist and spun Duo around to face him. He held Duo so hard that he couldn't even move to try and escape. The two stared each other down, but Solo didn't seem too interested in a staring contest.  
  
"Look Duo, I'm all for cleaning up the bathroom. But for crying out loud man, if you don't put on some pants, I can tell you right now, no works gonna be getting done." Solo's eyes slowly slid down Duo's body.  
  
"Alright, you go start, and I'll go put on some pants." Duo began to writhe under his capture's predatory gaze. His wrists were soon released though and he walked into his room to search for a pair of pants that didn't have any small creatures living in them. After searching for a while, he decided on a loose pair of jeans. 'Comfortable, they look good with this shirt and coat, and they aren't leather.' Duo paused and tried to figure out where that last thought had come from, but it didn't take very long. Images of the beautiful gold haired boy began to repeat themselves in Duo's head. 'He'll just leave me again. Just like he does every time. I don't see why I let him get to me every time. It'll just hurt more each time I let myself fall in love with him.' Duo stared at his reflection in the mirror. He tried to figure out how he could feel love for two different people, in two completely different ways. 'Which one to choose? Every fiber of me says to dump Solo flat on his ass, so why can't I?'  
  
/////////////////////////////////////Duo//////////////////////////////////  
  
I sprint as fast as my legs will carry me. This priest outfit sure is hard to run in. But at least now my hair isn't as bad of a problem, cause of the braid. The braid that Sister Helen did for me. The thought of Sister Helen, waiting for me back at the church made me run even faster.  
  
There's the base. Me and the gang had snuck in there once before. Of course, it will be much easier this time, I must have grown at least two inches since then. The fence rises in front of me as I climb up the hill. Scaling it was as easy as climbing the fire escapes in the alleyway near the church. More thoughts of the church come to me, Sister Helen and Father Maxwell teaching me. Playing with some of the other kids. The day that Solo came back from the dead.  
  
Guns begin to fire and the dirt around me is short into the air as I dodge the bullets. I can't believe this, I'm only a kid, they don't need to start shooting at me. Finally, I spot what I cam for. A carrier with a mobile suit in it. Bingo.  
  
My hand reaches the door handle, even though I have to jump to reach it. A satisfying click comes as the door swings open. Good thing it's not locked. I grin as I swing myself into the driver's seat. Uh-oh. I don't know how to drive. Oh well, first time for everything right? I reach down to the key and begin to turn it. I try it in the other direction and the sound of an engine coming on rumbles up from underneath me.  
  
"Here goes nothing." I yell as I slam my foot on one of the pedals. Nothing happens. "Okay, next try." My foot begins to stomp on the other pedal, but again I don't go anywhere. The soldiers are getting closer and closer to me, and they're guns continue to fire. I notice a lever with letters next to it. Sister Helen taught me how to read and write, and I'm thankful for it now. D for drive. That makes sense. After the lever is switched from P to D, I try the pedal again. Before I can react, the carrier is flying through the base, running over anything in it's path.  
  
"AHHHHH!" I can't help it, I scream as I feel the truck hit a few soldiers. Up ahead I can see the fence I just hopped to get into this base. There it goes, under the wheels of my truck. Soon, I at least have the hang of steering the metallic monster around corners and avoiding other cars. As soon as I'm close enough to the church, I decide to pull over and stop. Running over Maxwell Church definitely would not be a good thing.  
  
Hopping down from the carrier was definitely an easier task than climbing into it. I run ahead, but for some reason there is a cloud of smoke in front of me. I push through and rely on my instincts to tell me where the church is. I'm getting closer, soon I'll step out of this black cloud and the church will be there, all waiting for me to come and save them.  
  
The filmy smoke parts and I step through, smiling, ready to see all my friends and loved ones. Instead, all I see is the rubble of a lost home. My face falls. This can't really be happening, they said they wouldn't destroy the church as long as I got them a mobile suit. And I did. How could they?  
  
I walk forward, my body feels numb. There's blood everywhere. How could there be so much blood from such a small group of people. Bodies lay everywhere. Some were shot by the soldiers, some were collapsed on. I recognize the body of one of the children I would play with, from the waist down his body has been burnt off. I can't feel my body at all. It's like I'm not in it anymore. Like I'm not seeing the carnage of my second family. They look just like my first family.  
  
"D-Duo?" I hear a gentle voice call out to me. A hand pushes through the rubble. The gold cross on it, and the white, frail fingertips tell me it is one of the sisters. Running up to her, I push off a few pieces of stone that have fallen on her stomach. Blood trails down the side of her face, and her hair is strewn about.  
  
"Sister Helen. What happened?" I cling to her hand, it is as though I'm holding her here, in life, with me.  
  
"Oh Duo, they destroyed the church. Father Maxwell. You would have been proud. He preached peace right to the end."  
  
"Peace!" I yell at the dying nun. "What did peace ever do for him? It didn't save his life did it!?!" I can feel my face flush red in anger. I've lost everyone, again.  
  
"Duo." The voice seems quieter than before, and more shaky.  
  
"God be with you my son." A shudder and a gasp, and it is done. I stare down at the only mother I ever knew. Then at the bodies of my brothers, sisters, and fathers. Slowly I turn around, and I begin to walk forward. I don't know where Solo's body is in that massacre, but I know he won't be coming back this time. Sometimes, even ghosts burn. Maxwell. The name seems fitting, along with the gold cross I stole from the corpse of Sister Helen. Duo Maxwell. I like it, a little bit of each of my lives. A few more steps, and I can feel my body vanish into the cloud that still surrounds what used to be my home. Goodbye.  
  
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////  
  
Duo wiped away at his eyes out of habit. Those tears had long dried. Looking in the mirror, he could still see that little boy in the rubble wearing the priest outfit that was too big for him. 'No point in dwelling on the past now, not when he's in the bathroom right now.  
  
Duo walked out of his room and the few steps it took to reach the bathroom door. As he reached out to grasp the doorknob, the door opened up. Solo stood there, smiling brightly.  
  
"Here you go kid, my half is done." He commented as he passed Duo, dropping the wet towels into his hands. As Duo looked into the bathroom, he saw that the left half had been scrubbed spotless. The right half, however, was still spotted with blood. 'That jerk, I can't believe I though I loved him.' Duo fumed as he set to the task of cleaning the rest of the bathroom before the other pilots returned. Solo, on the other hand, went to the kitchen to finally get himself the lunch he'd been craving. 


	6. Out of the Ashes

Solo yawned as he walked into the kitchen, feeling incredibly lazy. The bathroom was clean. Duo was busy, so not bothering him. And his stomach was growling. 'Good combination.' Solo swung open the refrigerator door and began to stalk his lunch. Unfortunately, the mission was almost over for the pilots, and there was barely any food left in the entire house.  
  
"PB & J it is." Solo grabbed his ingredients, a plate, and set to the task of cooking, or as close to cooking as he would ever get. His sensitive ears picked up a few strange banging noises from the bathroom. Then the sound of a few bottles falling. The blonde couldn't hold back his laughing at the string of curses coming from his second in command. "Wow, that kid still curses like a sailor."  
  
An amused grin flashed across his face, and all the tension flowed out of him. But it came rushing back in a tide when his eyes fell on something on the counter. A small blade was lying there, it could have been mistaken for a kitchen knife if the watcher was an amateur. He picked it up and examined it closely. The blade was smooth and silver, about five inches long. The hilt was black, and very simple. Out of curiosity, Solo turned over the blade to look at the bottom of the handle. There was nothing there.  
  
Solo sighed as he put the foreign weapon back where he found it. 'It probably belongs to one of the other assassins in the house, wouldn't want em to be pissed at me for movin it.'  
  
He tried to take his mind off the memories that the small trinket had brought back, but he couldn't. The bread under his fingers was beginning to feel his wrath as he pressed the peanut butter on it hard enough to flatten it. His stomach was focused on the sandwich, but his mind was years away.  
  
///////////////////////////////////Solo/////////////////////////////////////  
  
People on the street are staring at me. Oh well, they can all go to hell for all I care. It's a beautiful day, the artificial sun is shining, the recycled air is sweet. Man, I wish I were really on earth, not this dying colony.  
  
One of the kids of L2 looks at me through a mass of red hair. A sneaking suspicion is in his face. A few more little ones hide behind him, they're even smaller. Ah ha, a leader of a gang. I smirk at him but continue to whistle as I walk along. One of the kids snickers and laughs happily. Curiosity always got the better of me, as I turn around and put my hands in my trench coat pockets.  
  
"What's so funny there little girl?" The girl is short, the shortest in the group. Her hair is short and black as the shadows she hangs around in. But her smile was bright and she looked confident. A natural. Her gang is just like mine used to be.  
  
"Well guy," she pauses and snickers but the rest of her friends look uncomfortable.  
  
"Out with it, don't fret kid, I ain't gonna hurt ya or anything."  
  
"You've got something sticken out your coat." She pointed her little hands in between my legs. I bend over, and sure enough, a few white feathers are poking their way out of my buttoned up coat.  
  
"Oh, uh, don't mind those." I smile and wink at her. Her eyes light up and I'm sure I know what she thinks I am. Sorry kid, no angels walking down this street today. I continue my journey in pleasant silence, thinking about the lives those kids will have to go through. Most of them will be dead by the end of the winter. Poor guys.  
  
The street is pretty crowded, just like the rest of this horrible colony. At least people are healthier now, the plague is completely gone. Course, took the best of us with it. I wonder what people see when they look at me, they sure as anything don't think I'm contemplating my death. My first death that is.  
  
Ah ha. Here we go. I stop in front of a fifteen foot barbed wire fence. Beyond it, there is a small training building. It belongs to some of the rebels. I hate them. My sharp eyes pick up a bit of movement, and I continue walking. No point in drawing attention to myself....yet. Yep, three of them. Soldiers, running their laps for the day. They all look about 20 or so. Big guys too. Oh well, I'm faster, and ain't nobody getting between me and the kid this time.  
  
Indecision creaps up the back of my neck. What if he hates me? He thinks I'm dead, and now I just show up, again. Sooner or later he's gonna get tired of me always dying, leaving, then showing up again.  
  
The sun is beginning to beat down on my back. This damn leather coat is hot. And the feathers aren't helping either. Argh, they're so itchy. It's really annoying having these things, they better go away now that I'm back around the short one again.  
  
The second that no one's looking, I scale the fence and leap over the wires. The thump of my feet on the grass is reassuring. I am the best. A quick victory smirk and I take off for the back of the complex. The door looks complex, but I can crack it. A twist there, turn this that way, and, ta-da, the lock has been picked. Once the door is gently swung open, I step into the dark cool room.  
  
This is apparently a storage room, boxes are piled to the ceiling. My eyes adjust, and I can see another door on the other side of the room. There is light coming from under it, it must lead to a hallway. Take a deep breath Solo, and be ready, you are in a military place.  
  
Slow, quiet footsteps lead me down the hallway. It's dimly lit and pretty grungy. This must be one of the less funded places. For the first time today, I'm thankful for my dark coat. It compliments my thief talents very nicely. Uh oh, person.  
  
The two guards continue chatting and walking down the hallway, past the hallway I dove into. Phew, a little too close for comfort.  
  
"DUO!!"  
  
I jump at the sound of someone very close yelling very loudly. Well, at least the kids easy to find. I sneak down my escape route hallway and peak around the corner. My eyes widen as I take in the sight of a huge hangar. Pieces of mobile suits are thrown around everywhere. A few Leos are actually in one piece standing near the large door. Mechanics walk by, doing miscellaneous jobs. My eyes are immediately drawn to a small person, dressed in a black priest outfit.  
  
"Duo." I whisper. Or, Ciaran, as I knew him. He seems to be looking around for someone. At his feet are a few metal chunks which look as if they should go together. Hm. He looks...good. He got a few more inches, but so did I. He's still keeping his hair in that silly braid, but oh well, there's no convincing him any other way.  
  
"DUO! WHAT HAVE YOU BROKEN THIS TIME!?!?" A very odd looking man walks out from behind Duo. He seems to come right out of the shadows. Hahaha, that man has a mushroom for a head! Wonder who he is?  
  
"I swear G, it was like this when I found it. I picked it up, and it fell apart on me."  
  
"Duo, you need more training. And now you need to fix that converter if you don't want to be thrown out on the streets where I found you."  
  
I bristle at the old man's comment. I'm sure Duo would always be happier on the streets. It's where he belongs, with me. Woah, where'd that come from. After all, I'm the one who always leaves. Still, he doesn't deserve to be yelled at by some crack in a white coat. How'd he land himself in this mess anyway. Hmm, better make a big entrance, but not in public. Now how to do that.  
  
Duo grumbled from across the hangar as he fixed the device right in the middle of the floor where he was. That's my kid, anything anywhere, he's can adjust to anything. Man that look on his face is so.... Okay, this is getting out of hand. I know I'm bi, but I can't start having these thoughts about Duo. He's 14, I'm 16. Plus, he seems to be part of something important here, I'm not getting in the way again.  
  
Something moves, and my eyes catch the slight change. Duo is setting cross legged and bent over to pick up a piece of metal. As he did, a small bulge formed on his back. It could be mistaken by anyone else as his shoulders or maybe his spine. But I know better, mine showed up weeks ago, but it took me this long to track him down. I bet his came about the same time. Poor kid. Must be really uncomfortable trying to hide em under that priest outfit.  
  
With a sigh, I pick up my duffel bag which had been sitting on the ground next to me and begin to sneak around again. Before long, I find a nice closet, kinda like a janitor's closet and decide to hide out in here for a while. Nice little room, got a window facin' the hallway and everything.  
  
The rest of my time in the closet is spent doing nothing, or sifting through my small amount of belongings, looking for something to keep me occupied. With another sigh, which I seem to be doing a lot lately, I pick up my knife and begin to examine it. It's a nice blade, I stole it from the corpse of a guy who had decided to get fresh with the wrong kid. I smile widely in the closet, reveling in the bloodshed I knew I could create.  
  
In the dim light of the single bulb overhead, I notice something on the very bottom of the blade's handle. Someone carved two letters into it. J and S. Hm. Must have been the guy's initials. Maybe I can scratch them out somehow, but with what? I pause as a noise outside catches my attention.  
  
I peer through the nasty, dusty window and see my guy walk by. He still bounces in his step. I can see his eyes from here. Those beautiful violet eyes. Man, he is so hot.  
  
I pause, he walks farther down the corridor and opens a random door to toss something inside. He turns around and waves to someone in the hangar before running back to it. I smirk, here's a good chance to make an entrance. As soon as he's all the way down the hall, I slip silently out of the closet and sprint to the door he just opened. Praying it's his room, I dart in, quietly closing the door behind me.  
  
Jeez, and I thought the kid was messy on the streets. It's obviously his room, clothes strewn about, stuff laying everywhere, and a lot of random blood. I don't see too many sources of light except a small lamp on a nightstand and the moonlight coming through the small window. Fitting for him of course.  
  
My eyes are drawn to the large stain on his bed. Even in the dim light, I can see the definite color of dried blood. Well, that answers my question as to whether or not he's got these same annoying wings. I wonder if anyone else would wander in here like I did, man, this coat is chaffin me. But I guess it's not worth risking.  
  
How can there be no bathroom, or closet, or somewhere where I can hide for a while. Shorty better hurry it up, I'm gettin bored already. The duffel bag on my shoulder is getting heavy and burdensome. Ah ha, under the bed with you. I smirk as I stretch out on Duo's not exactly comfortable mattress. Oh well, beggars and thieves can't be choosers.  
  
It's a little uncomfortable laying on these wings, but I guess I have to deal with it. Slowly my eyes begin to slide shut, oh hell, a five minute nap can't hurt.  
  
* * * *  
  
My eyes are open. There are soft footsteps outside. Oops, that nap took longer than I thought. Sitting up slowly, I lean back. I'm propped up on my hands, this way, if I need to, I can vault myself at whoever is coming in the room. Assuming it ain't the kid I'm looking for.  
  
The door slowly opens. Not like the person realizes I'm here, more that they are tired, or just not aware of how slow they're going. The body steps inside, and I relax. That face and that hair, and now that outfit are unmistakable. My Ciaran's back.  
  
His eyes widen and his jaw hangs open when his eyes find me in the darkness.  
  
"Hey kid, long time no see." I smirk at him, he doesn't look scared of me, that's a bonus. Slowly, he narrows his eyes and squints at me, like he doesn't believe what he's seeing. Not that I can blame him much, I just came back from the dead, again. I hope this doesn't become a habit.  
  
He slowly walks forward, and a smile spreads across his face as he realizes that I really am here and alive. I grin at him. Then, all of a sudden, there's a flying person coming at me.  
  
"Hey, watch it!" I laugh as a bounding Duo lands on my lap and glomps me. His arms around me, and him straddling me is almost too much. Self control, Solo, just a little self control. I hug him back and feel the protrusion of his wings. His body tenses and he pulls away.  
  
"How are you still alive?" I can't help but feel depressed, the poor kid thought I was dead. I ruined his life and broke his heart.  
  
"I got out of the church before they..." I still can't bring myself to say it and my words stop. They seem to disappear into thin air before I even speak them.  
  
"I understand. So, there were two survivors. Huh, that changes my perspective a bit." He looks tired, and sad for a moment, his eyes downcast. But with a sigh, he looks back at me and the happy kid I used to know takes over again.  
  
"So where ya been hiding all this time?" He rolls off of me and sits next to me on the mattress. He looks so hot like that, sitting with his legs crossed and his braid hanging down over his shoulder.  
  
"Well, wandering around. Nothing new there, and trying to track you down!" A punch to the side and I laugh at him. "For crying out loud shorty, it was almost impossible to find ya this time."  
  
"Hahaha, that's what I get for joining up with this crack pot bunch of military guys."  
  
"Hey, is anybody gonna be able to come in this room?" He shrugs an eye at my question and looks suspicious of me for a minute.  
  
"No, why?"  
  
"Cause the leather jacket is killing me and if I don't spread my wings I'm gonna get stuck this way."  
  
He laughs happily as he locks the only door in or out of the room.  
  
"Bout time!" I slip the jacket off and leave it in a pile on the bed. The shirt I'm wearing, a wifebeater, has been cut down the back so I could fit my wings through it. I stretch them out as far as they will go and hear a few joints pop satisfyingly. The kid just shakes his head and folds his arms over his chest.  
  
"Well shorty, are you gonna stretch out a bit too?" Come on Duo, take that shirt off. I grin, and hope he can't see the lust in my expression.  
  
"Can't, I have to go meet up with G. He wanted to talk to me about something."  
  
I try as hard as I can not to pout. I will get you shirtless, Duo Maxwell, and maybe more if I'm lucky.  
  
"G? Is that a person, place, or letter?"  
  
He just shakes his head and throws me that evil jacket again.  
  
"Person, he runs this place. You should come meet him if you plan on staying here for a while." He sounds hopeful, oh yeah, he so sounds hopeful. Anything for you kid, even if it means putting on that awful thing again. I slip it over my folded wings and follow him out the door. I still feel the need to slink around and hide, but I manage to override my flight response and follow in Duo's steps.  
  
He walks with a step that just screams happy. So much has changed, and yet so little. At least we both fell back into our roles as best friends without too much trouble. He waves to people and smiles shouting hi's to everyone. They all smile back and then shake their head in exasperation. I know the feeling. Dealing with a Duo for long periods of time can mess with your head.  
  
As we round the next corner, I see the shroom headed man up ahead. I wonder if he's this G guy Duo was talking about.  
  
"Heya prof G!" He shouts and walks up till he's standing right in front of the strange little man. I follow, a safe distance away. I don't particularly want to be too obvious.  
  
"G, this is my old best buddy, Solo. He's trust worthy, and he's really good at lots of stuff. He can help out around the hangar. And he can stay with me. Please?"  
  
I still can't get over how he turns so many different questions and subjects into one big sentence.  
  
"Hey." I on the other hand, am not half as talkative to other people. Especially creepy old guys like this one, I don't trust him for some reason. Makes the hairs on my neck stand on end.  
  
"Well, if you put your days work in and don't distract Duo from his training, then you can stay. Duo, fill him in on what you're doing and make sure he understand the consequences of what will happen if he tells anyone about his little operation."  
  
"Of course, in fact, why don't I take him back to my room and explain things right now."  
  
"Fine, just make sure you're ready to do some work later on."  
  
Well I feel left out. And I think my self control just ran away. "You know, you hair looks like a shroom?" The old man's eyes twitches slightly, just enough to give it away that he's angry. Before I realize it, Duo has my wrist in his hand and we're running down the corridors towards his room. Wow, this is so different. Normally I've always been the leader.  
  
By the time we reach his door and run through it, he's laughing as hard as I am. We burst in and slaw the door shut. His eyes are closed, and his head thrown back he's laughing so hard. I wonder how long he's noticed what the hair looked like and how much he wanted to say it to his face.  
  
"Are you insane?!?!" Apparently, he's caught his breath. He grabs me by the shoulders and looks up into my eyes as he speaks. "Professor G shouldn't be messed around with. He can be really dangerous, after all, he's got all the guys on this entire complex at his beckon call."  
  
I can't resist it anymore, him holding onto my shoulders is just a challenge. "I know kid, but you see," I grab his elbows and pull his hands off my shoulders, twisting them in front of him, "I never was very good at avoiding trouble." I whisper into his ear, now that I'm holding his arms crossed in front of him and I'm standing behind him.  
  
My arms are yanked forward, and, to my surprise, Duo flips me over him, until I'm lying on the ground, looking up at him as he's still holding my wrist. Oh yeah, he's gonna pay for that. He grins at me as I struggle to get away, but he stops looking quite so happy when I pull him down to the floor beside me. I pull my arms away from him and stand up, getting into a fighting stance. He does the same and we face off, my back is to the bed and his back is to the door.  
  
A quick lunge, and he has launched himself at me. There's no way even I could dodge from an attack that started so close, so I try to block him as best I can. It doesn't work. Once again, I'm on my back on Duo's hard bed, pressing my wings into the mattress. Using some leverage to my advantage, I throw him off of me and onto the bed beside me. Never one to miss a great opportunity, I roll over on top of him, placing my hands above his shoulders and my knees to the outsides of his knees.  
  
In an attempt to make me lose my balance and fall over, or so he could push me off of him, Duo punches my elbows. They buckle from they're already bent position and my front half falls on top of Duo. Before either of us know what's happening, my face brushes against his, and our lips hit together. Not exactly together, kind of off center, but still. The whole world freezes. We stare at each other, and I pray that he doesn't look grossed out and throws me off of him. Instead, his eyes seem to show the same emotion I feel. Fear, apprehension, excitement, we accidentally tasted a forbidden fruit. I try and prop myself up, but doing so without touching him is impossible.  
  
I move my hands and place them on his shoulders, trying to push myself up. I think I'm blushing, badly, and I hope he doesn't see me. Oops, bad plan. By raising my front half, my lower half got pushed more against him. Well, I think it's definitely safe now to say that we both feel the same way about each other. Hey, he's into it, why am I leaving. I lean down slowly towards him, I want him to always know he's got a way out if he decides he doesn't like this. He does look confused, but not in a bad way. My lips touch his, and I close my eyes. Like everything else, his lips are soft and smooth. He turns his head to make us both more comfortable, and the feel of his lips moving beneath mine is all I've dreamed of for the past year. I slowly open my mouth and press it against his, letting my tongue touch his lips. His body shudders and writhes beneath mine, and I enjoy it. I press my entire body against his, holding him still as I slip my tongue into his mouth. He seems apprehensive at first, then he relaxes and begins to slowly trail his tongue along mine.  
  
I pull away, and look him in the eyes. He looks dazed, I bet that was his first real kiss.  
  
"Okay, so, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that we're both gay." He smiles up at me and looks so hot, and considering my position, I'm amazed that I actually kept a leash on myself this time.  
  
"Well, I don't know, I think I'm pretty bi. There are some fine looking chicks around here."  
  
"Hey, feeling insulted here. You have a fine looking guy underneath you right now."  
  
That pout on his face is the end of it. I can hear my last few threads of self control snapping. One remains however, holding on to dear life.  
  
"Duo...," that's strange, it doesn't sound like my voice anymore. It's too serious, and husky, oh well, "if you want to stop at any time, just tell me, okay?"  
  
He barely lets me finish before he reaches up and pulls me down onto him again.  
  
^_^ hehe. If you want the continuation, it's at my fic's site. You people know the drill. The next chapter will be up if I get a few more reviews. Sorry I'm taking all the lemons out, I just really don't wanna get kicked of FFN. Later readers!! 


	7. Better times

"SOLO!" Duo yelled for the fifth time in the tall boy's ear.  
  
"What?!" Solo jumped a few feet in the air and looked guiltily around.  
  
"I've been yelling at you for the past five minutes but you were zoned out staring at your half eaten sandwich. Dear goodness man, how long does it take to eat lunch." Duo sighed loudly and stared at Solo.  
  
Praying that he hadn't gotten too excited by the memory, Solo turned to talk to Duo.  
  
"So why were you disturbing my telepathic connection with my sandwich." He asked as happily as he could, trying to cover the nervousness about daydreaming about certain events between them.  
  
"Well, I'm going to go upstairs and train for a while, if the phone rings, answer it. You think you can handle that without spacing out."  
  
Solo grinned back at Duo as he walked away muttering something. After he was all the way up the stairs, and safely in the makeshift gym, Solo sighed heavily. 'Okay, daydreaming about giving the kid blowjobs while you're alone in a house with him is bad!' But his mind refused to leave the other memories alone. Another time, a few months after he had found Duo surfaced painfully behind his eyes.  
  
/////////////////////Solo////////////////////  
  
"CIARAN!!"  
  
As I run around the corner of the hallway I hear a small 'eep'. Duo is standing there, looking ready to run, with a guilty grin on his face.  
  
"Oh, uhh, hiya Solo, how's it goin? What's up?" I would swear I can actually see the sweat running down his face as he rambles.  
  
"Well gee shorty, let's see. What's up? Well, I find this on the floor of our room, and, seein as you and I are the only ones in that room, I have a feeling you're as guilty as you look!" I throw the black piece of cloth to the floor at his feet. My t-shirt, not that it was special or anything, but I've only got a couple, was filled with holes. Long rips actually. That sure resembled the blade gashes I would get during knife fights.  
  
"Okay, first off calm down. You scared me crap-less. You used my old name for crying out loud. I thought I'd done something that was gonna end with me hanging from a noose or something."  
  
My glare doesn't seem to reassure him much. He gulps once and goes on.  
  
"You see, G said I had to do practice with all my weapons. And, well, I needed to practice with my knife cause I'm still pretty bad at it. And.....well.....you're shirt did look like a person if you hang it on a chair." He grins and I can't help but sigh. This stupid kid. I can't seem to stay mad at him.  
  
"You know, I am the master of knife fights. Best on L2. Why don't I help you out a bit?"  
  
He smiles happily and, hard as I try, I can't fight down the beating of my heart. This is the longest I've been with him. Normally I would have left as soon as the wings were gone, but I couldn't. Not since we became lovers. Hasn't been easy of course, but I can take it. For him at least.  
  
"Come on." We walk back down the cold metallic hallways to our room. Slipping inside, I notice that you can take the kid out of the street, but not the street out of the kid. We still sneak around and act all stealthy even when we're just going into our own room. He flips on the light, although I didn't need it as I search my jacket pockets for my knife.  
  
"So, G sure is training you hard."  
  
"Yeah, well, you know." Funny, he does seem to be avoiding the subject of why he's here.  
  
"You know, I don't really think you're the kinda guy that should be a soldier ya know."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
I walk up behind him with the initialed knife in my hand. Wrapping my left arm around his waist, I hold him to me and put the knife in his right hand.  
  
"Well, you are kinda an orphan because of some idiotic soldiers from the last war." I hold my hand over his and begin to show him some knife moves. Slash up. Stab. Bend down and slash at the knees.  
  
"I know, but they had to fight-"  
  
"Do you forgive them?" I cut him off. My hand releases his, but my arm stays where it is. "Try throwing it at the wall." I order before he continues talking.  
  
"No, I can't forgive them. Ever. But now I understand. Solo, if no one ever fights, then these wars will just go on and on and more people will die. I have to do something about it." He throws the knife and it hits the wall, but bounces off. I release him, a little harder than I meant to and retrieve the knife.  
  
"Sure, that's what all the idiotic bastards who need an excuse to kill say. Duo, it's the same old line. If people didn't start wars, then deaths wouldn't have to end em. It's their fault. Let the fools who started this war clean up their own mess. We should stay out of it."  
  
Using my hand to guide his, I show him the way to throw the knife and how to hold it. After I show him the motions a few times, I let go of his hand and nod to him.  
  
"Solo, this war involves us all. If you don't want to fight, fine. But I do. I want to help people, and plus, it's not like I have a great life to go back to."  
  
The knife doesn't stick in the wall again as he throws it and I walk over to it, picking it up slowly. What right do I have to tell him not to be a soldier. After all, I am teaching him how to throw and fight with knives. And I've killed so many. But no, that's different.  
  
We resume the same stance as I try and show him how to throw it one more time. My grip on him has gotten tighter. He's not listening to me, I feel like I'm losing him.  
  
"There's a difference between killing someone because you have to. It's your choice whether to fight in a war or not. If you had a lick a sense you'd stay away from it."  
  
After a pause, I take the knife from his hand and continue showing him the motions of throwing the blade. "And plus," I add, " I won't let you go and kill a bunch of innocent people and make more orphans and widows."  
  
Suddenly, he pulls away from my hold. With a stride, he's standing a few feet from me, glaring me in the eyes. That defiant look in his eyes, he's challenging me.  
  
"You're not the leader anymore Solo. In case you've forgotten, your gang is dead. You can't tell me what you will and won't allow me to do. If I want to pilot the gundam in this war, I will. With or without your approval. And if you get in my way, well..." The sentence hangs in the air with the tension between us.  
  
I look into his eyes, and I know he's being serious. Duo's different. After all these nights of screwing each other till all we felt was each other. All these years of thinking about him and wanting to be near him. I was fooling myself to think things could ever be the same between us. I love him more than anything else, and I hate him for it.  
  
"The lesson endeth here." With a flick of my arm the knife is hurled into the wall and buries itself blade first to the hilt.  
  
He doesn't move or try to stop me from leaving as I walk out the door. I need to cool down, and I'm sure he does too. The hallways are relaxing at night. The quite hum of the fluorescent lights and the dim colors they give make it relaxing. It's amazing I can like this place so much considering what it's done to Duo. This place changed him. I don't fit in with his life anymore. But there's no way I'm leavin that easy. We'll figure something out. I'm sure we can learn to live with each other. Maybe I can even make him change his mi-  
  
My foot flies out and I catch him in the stomach. Some big goon jumped out of one of the doors in front of me holding a gun. I leap, trying to grab it from him, but something is holding my shoulders in place. Above my head, I can feel the breathing of somebody very large. Pausing to gather my strength, I thrust my elbow back as hard as I can, catching him solidly in the ribs.  
  
Two clicks catch my attention as the man behind me holds on tight, even as he partially doubles over. My eyes meet up with two goons, the one I kicked and a friend of his, holding handguns pointed at my head. Looks like I've lost my only advantage, now they're smart enough to stand five feet away, long out of my reach. Damn, I left my knife in the wall of the room. Unarmed, against three...make that four guys. I can't see the one in the shadows. He's still standing in the room that the two in front of me came out of. He steps out and I recognize him right away.  
  
"Hey shroom head, tell your groupies to lay off." I keep on smirking, but I have a bad feeling about this. I could take all of them, one at a time, if they were unarmed as well. But there ain't no way I'm getting out of this easy.  
  
"I can't do that. You see, I ordered them to capture you and hold you at gunpoint. We need to have a talk."  
  
"If it's about the birds and the bees, I can tell you you're about 6 years too late." I can't help but feel a mix of pride and shame at the surprise on his face.  
  
"My dear boy, you only wish it were one of those talks." He sneers down at me, and I get that familiar urge to slit his throat.  
  
"Leave. Now." I can feel my confident look get replaced by a confused one. What does he mean?  
  
"Huh?" Okay, so I'm not a very smooth talker when I'm being held prisoner.  
  
"I'm ordering you to leave now. You're jeopardizing the entire mission."  
  
"What are you talking about? If it's about blabbing this secret of yours, you'd be a real idiot if you thought that I would be the one to tell."  
  
"That's not it. I want you to stay away from Duo." I flinch at this. Uh oh, secrets out.  
  
"In case your wondering, you really shouldn't be making out with your little gay friend in the middle of the hallway where people might walk by."  
  
I knew that was a bad idea. But I still don't understand this.  
  
"So what, he can't be a good soldier if he's gay?"  
  
"He can't be a good soldier if he has any attachments. Especially to a worthless little street slut like you."  
  
My eyes fly open and I snarl at him. Straining against the man behind me, all I want to do is kill him. Kill the old man. Who cares if I die afterwards. I've died before, and this time it'd be worth it.  
  
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He says as he sees me trying to break free in my rage.  
  
"Why not, you'll kill me? Ha, street sluts," I spit his words back at him, "are harder to kill than roaches."  
  
"Oh you're quite right. And I realize that." He smiles and I shudder in disgust and anger. What's he smiling about?  
  
"But I also know, that you will leave, and not because I threaten your life, but the life of your little lover."  
  
The world has frozen again. I stop looking angry and I stop struggling. No, he's bluffing.  
  
"You would never kill Duo, he's your little soldier experiment."  
  
"We can train another, a better soldier than he is. And if you really don't believe that I'll kill him, just try me."  
  
I can't risk his life. I could try and kill them, or get to him before they do. But what if they're waiting for me to try and rescue him. I'm trapped. They've got me with the one thing that I can't lose, even more than my own life, I can't lose his.  
  
"Fine, I'll go get my stuff and leave. But I'm gonna warn you right now, Duo's not going to be pleased that I'm leaving and I'm sure you're going to have to answer some questions about where I am."  
  
"I'll just tell him you find some other kid to screw when you're bored."  
  
I didn't know I had enough self control until I walked away from him. Without a word. They're still holding Duo hostage, even though he doesn't know it.  
  
I quietly open the door to our room. Duo's asleep on our bed, in our sheets. I begin to slowly pack up, without making a noise that might wake him up. I can't say goodbye, and the one time I actually have a good reason for leaving him. But I can't tell him it. I should still leave something, maybe a goodbye note at least. My eyes fall on the knife, still embedded in the wall. I carefully remove it, and walk over to Duo. I lean down, and just barely kiss his lips. He doesn't even flinch. Then, I have a great idea.  
  
After searching quietly around the room for a while, I find what I'm looking for. Picking up my duffel bag that contains everything I own, I walk out of his room for the last time. After closing the door, I hold the single white feather against the center of it and slam the knife hard through it. The blade holds the delicate feather against the door. Goodbye kid.  
  
//////////////////////////////////////////  
  
The sound of a telephone ringing brought Solo out of his own mind. Remembering what Duo had said, he walked over and answered the video phone. On the other end, the light blue eyes of the blonde named Quatre stared back.  
  
"Hey there Quatre."  
  
"Oh, hi Solo. Is Duo there?"  
  
"Sorry, he's upstairs training and told me to take a message if anybody called."  
  
"Okay, just tell him that Wufei and I have been assigned to other missions. We'll swing by for our stuff once we've completed them. But Heero and Trowa should be getting there very soon."  
  
"Sure thing, I'll tell him. Later!" Solo waved goodbye to the pilot on the screen before shutting it off. 'Wonderful, two more people in the house, great. Well, might as well go bother Duo some more, and give him the message.'  
  
Solo took the stairs two at a time as he headed for the training room. Solo could hear Duo's heavy breathing before he even reached the door to the training room. Making sure that his footsteps could be heard, so as not to suprise the soldier, he walked up and began leaning on the doorframe.  
  
Duo stood in a corner, his chest rising with his strained breathing, and his braid was sticking to his neck from the sweat. He faced off against a used looking punching bag, and would alternate punches, kicks, and just about any other move he might use in a fight.  
  
"Take it easy kid, the bad didn't do anything to you."  
  
Duo seemed to ignore Solo for a minute, landing a high kick into where a person's face might be. Then he paused, and without turning around, yelled, "Why are you here?"  
  
"Well, I was walking around the little world inside my mind, oh don't worry, they know me there, and the phone rang." Solo waited for a response, a question, a comment, a laugh, anything. From under the baggy gray tanktop and oversized black shorts, Solo saw something pulling against the fabric. The black tips of Duo's wings poked out of the bottom of his shorts, despite the fact that they reached beyond his knees. 'He looks tense.' Solo thought as he read the boy's body language.  
  
"Who was it?" The wings pulled closer and Duo finally turned, now more calm than before, to face his old friend. Solo mouth hung open as he was about to answer. Duo's face was shining slightly from the exertion and he was still breathing faster than he should have been. A few sections of hair had fallen out of his braid and framed his face. After a few seconds of staring, Solo found his voice again.  
  
"It was your cute blonde friend, I think his name is Quatre?"  
  
"Oh, what was he callin about?"  
  
"He and the scary Chinese kid have to go blow up some more people, but the tall one with the unibang and your crush are gonna be here soon."  
  
Duo quickly translated and figured out that Quatre and Wufei had another mission, and Trowa and Heero--  
  
"What do you mean my crush?!?"  
  
With a chuckle, Solo walked up and began to walk around till he was standing behind Duo. The violet eyes followed him warily, Duo not trusting Solo any farther than he could throw him.  
  
"Don't worry kid, just working out some of the tension, it's pretty obvious since you're shirt looks like a circus tent."  
  
Duo consciously pulled his wings in tighter, but didn't move away from Solo's hands as they began to massage his wings and shoulders. 'Okay, so it feels good. Hey, wait a minute.'  
  
"You never answered my question."  
  
"What, about you having the major crush on Heero?"  
  
Duo practically balked at this, 'How does he know that I have a crush. Am I that obvious?'  
  
"You're really obvious about it Duo, after all," Solo leaned down till his mouth was next to Duo's ear. Duo shivered as the tips of Solo's hair tickled his neck, "it's the same way I've always looked at you."  
  
Duo's eyes shot up to look into Solo's, which were suddenly much closer. His arms hung around Duo's waist as he held Duo in a loose hug.  
  
"Of course, after all, you know the most about little boys having crushes on each other, eh?" The smile that Solo received was a rare one, a real one. Duo couldn't help it, no matter how much he hated him, and sometimes wanted to kill him, he had to love the guy.  
  
"Yes, and the master seems to think that you're crush returns the feelings."  
  
Solo was reasonably upset at the fact that Duo's eyes lit up at this, and his smile got even wider. 'Ah damn. You dumb blonde, why are you always opening your big yap.'  
  
"Which," Solo wrapped his arms tighter around the boy in front of him, "is why I want to kill him." Solo shot the God of Death his own version of the patented grin. Duo, for just a second, looked a little worried.  
  
"Aw come on, I'm just joking, plus, that disturbed kid has been giving me death glares since I got here. So the feelings mutual."  
  
"Haha, actually, Heero gives everyone that glare."  
  
Solo was confused for a minute, and looked like he was all of about 8 years old.  
  
"Eh, you two would never work anyway."  
  
"What do you mean? You just said we both liked each other, people who like each other usually work together."  
  
"No, people who love each other work together. You two just have pathetic little kiddy crushes. There's a difference." Duo, suprisingly, didn't have a response to this, and just stood there, looking up at Solo. Never one to miss an opportunity, Solo began to lean down towards him. The inches between their lips closed and both eyes closed their eyes. Though their lips were still closing in on each other, the two boys had already kissed in their minds. The feel of the hot skin pressed together, the slight movement till they found a way they were both comfortable. Their tongues sparring and exploring. If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then truly the mouth is the door.  
  
A loud slamming sound caused both boys to break off before their lips even touched and stare at the door.  
  
"Heero's back!"  
  
"Oh goody." Solo muttered and released Duo angrily. 'So close. Argh.'  
  
"Tell them I'm getting changed." Duo ran over to the closet/changing room and began to put his jeans, t-shirt, and jacket back on.  
  
Solo slowly wandered down the stairs, looking dejectedly towards the door to the hangar. Both pilots, looking rather ragged stood there, and Heero met his eyes with a classic cobalt death glare. 


	8. Shattered

Solo slowly wandered down the stairs, looking dejectedly towards the door to the hangar. Both pilots, looking rather ragged stood there, and Heero met his eyes with a classic cobalt death glare.  
  
"Hey you two." Solo casually walked over and leaned on a nearby wall, smirking as evily as he could towards the tanktopped menace.  
  
"Where's Duo?" Trowa asked cautiously, he didn't want to interfere with the silent battle between the two.  
  
"He was upstairs changing last time I saw him." With a final grin, Solo walked into the living room, leaving one extremely pissed, and one extremely confused pilot in his wake. Solo walked into the living room and flopped down on the couch. He was tired, after all, he hadn't been sleeping well the past couple of nights. 'I wonder how the kids are doing?' Despite how much he tried, Solo felt guilty about leaving his new gang on L2. They had come to rely on him ever since he'd found them in the alleyway. 'Right before I found Duo.' Suddenly, Solo realized that the tv was still off. He looked around, and finally found the remote control sitting a few cushions away. 'So.....far....'  
  
"And the protocol pilot returns!" Duo shouted as he jumped the last four stairs and made his usual flashy entrance. Three sets of tired eyes brightened as they looked at the lively boy. He walked confidently over to where Trowa and Heero were still standing.  
  
"Hey guys, how'd the mission go?"  
  
"Well." Was all Trowa said, before continuing to stare at Solo cautiously. 'I still don't trust that guy. Something isn't right about him.' The rumble of his stomach made Trowa realize that he hadn't had anything to eat in a while, and he headed immediately for the fridge.  
  
Heero, on the other hand, walked over to look at Solo on the sofa. Duo tried to think of something clever to say, but was coming up short, so he merely stood there. As Solo reached over to grab the remote control, Heero happened to glance down.  
  
"What happened to your hand?"  
  
Duo and Trowa both looked over as well, seeing as Solo seemed to have frozen in his tracks. On his hand was a large ring of red teeth marks. They had just barely broken the skin. When Solo looked up, his eyes went carefully to Duo, who was squirming.  
  
"I..." Solo paused, looking over at Duo, then to Heero. Duo shot him a hopeless look, and even Solo couldn't stand up against it.  
  
"I pet a cat, that apparently didn't feel like being pet at the time." Duo let out a snort with the breath he had been holding, and received a strange look from under Trowa's hair. 'Well kid, I didn't let out our little secret, and I didn't exactly lie, did I?'  
  
"Hn." Heero picked up the remote he was reaching for and turned the tv on, before taking a place as far from Solo as he possibly could.  
  
"So, what we searching for guy, a cooking show, soap opera, cartoons?"  
  
Both Trowa and Duo just rolled their eyes and decided to take seats at various places, Duo next to Heero, who seemed indifferent, and Trowa next to Solo. As Trowa looked over towards his suddenly silent companion, he saw that Solo's gold eyes were staring at Duo and Heero. 'Oh, so that's what's been going on lately. A love triangle. Hm, better to stay out of it.'  
  
Trowa had just begun to stand up when Heero found a channel worth stopping on.  
  
"...huge amounts of damage was inflicted, as well as many casualties, the exact amount is still uncertain. Here is some of the video footage we managed to recover."  
  
The image shifted from the new anchor in a suit and tie to a battlefield on fire. Mobiles suits were being thrown down in pieces, buildings were on fire and some continued to blow up as the raging flames found more explosives. In the middle of all this were four white suits, slicing and blowing away countless suits. It could not even be said that the enemy soldiers were fighting bravely, they weren't alive long enough to fight at all. The four young men watched the screen in silence. Two, recognizing the horrible vision of themselves, in the heat of violence, killing anyone that came near. Another, realizing that he too should have been in the middle of the bloodshed, and with the knowledge that he would have been enjoying it. The final, and perhaps most untouched by war, watched in something between reverence and horror. 'This many lives were lost in one single battle. Did they all feel that they were saving the world, and stopping this war by dying. How many have been killed by the boy that I saved and raised on the street. If it weren't for me, he would have been dead long ago, how many fates would have changed..."  
  
"Like Trowa said, the mission was a success." Heero shut the tv off completely and walked away down the hall, towards his own room.  
  
"I have work to do on the Heavyarms, alright Duo?"  
  
"Sure Tro. I'll come get you if we need you." Trowa nodded and walked through the door to the hangar, leaving it open.  
  
"A success, huh?" Solo stood up and began to pace around, before heading down the hallway after Heero. "That's the only time you'll hear someone say a massacre like that would be a 'success'."  
  
Duo winced as the two doors down the hall slammed shut. With no one else around, Duo was left to contemplate his situation, the people around him, and the mission that he had been away from.  
  
* * * * *  
  
The rest of the day went by slowly, each keeping to his own, the stress of all the recent events catching up to everyone. Duo would occasionally try and make a joke to Heero or Trowa, but they were even more stoic than normal, if that's possible. Every now and then Solo would come by, looking for food, but even he didn't seem to want to talk or joke or even flirt with Duo. The sun had set long ago and the pilots and their guest had all had small dinners at different times. A deep, long, pained scream broke the silence that had been thick in the house since the pilots had returned.  
  
Solo came running out of his room to almost run into Heero. But neither paused to bicker as they sprinted into the living room, the direction of the scream.  
  
Trowa bolted into the kitchen and slid across a few of the tiles, his feet covered in oil, as well as the rest of him. After regaining his balance, he too sprinted into the living room, arriving at the same time as the others.  
  
Duo was sitting on the couch, looking rather comfortable, and looked away from the tv to greet the his friends.  
  
"Oh, sorry about that. It was way too quite in this house and you three were all being sulky."  
  
Three jaws dropped, six eyes bugged out, and six very strong fists clenched angrily.  
  
"Eep!" Duo was knocked onto the ground as three bodies hurtled at him. He felt himself being pinned by at least one person, and felt another trying to strangle him. In the back of his fading consciousness he could hear Solo yelling obscenities at him. Then, as his lips began to turn blue, the hands were pulled off of his throat.  
  
"Calm down Trowa." Heero said, even as he continued to sit on Duo's ribcage.  
  
"Hey, I think you're killing him."  
  
Heero glared at Solo, and was about to yell at him about knowing when he was killing someone, but looked down to see a partially passed out Duo. 'Oops.' With some help from Trowa, Heero stood up and the three attackers looked down at poor Duo.  
  
"Well, that's what he gets for scarin us to death like that." Solo said as he crossed his arms and stood with the other two.  
  
A few coughs came up from the beaten body of Duo, before he smiled up at them.  
  
"For cryin out loud. Go a little easier next time I do something bad, after all, three against one..."  
  
"Duo, you know that any single one of us could take you on and win." Heero and Trowa groaned at the blatant challenge and quickly thought up excuses.  
  
"Heavyarms is still broken, I think I'll stay up late tonight and work on it." Before Duo could protest, the emerald eyed throttler was gone.  
  
"I'm going to bed, and Duo.." His eyes looked up happily from his place on the floor as Heero spoke his name, "If you scream again, we aren't coming to see if you're okay." With that, he too disappeared, the soft click of his door closing was the only sound that Solo and Duo heard.  
  
"Hmm now, all alone and nothing to do..." Solo came to stand over Duo and looked down at him, looking every bit intimidating as he hoped. Duo gulped, and jumped up before he could be pinned.  
  
"No no no no no. One time, an accident, that's it. No more." Throwing his hands up, Duo walked back towards his room.  
  
"Plus..." he yelled back over his shoulder, "I'm tired, and I'm going to bed. You sleep on the couch." This door was also shut, but Solo could pick up the sound of a lock being turned.  
  
Pouting, Solo pondered over where the sheets might be, but gave up and just pulled his jacket off to use as a cover. 'Oh yeah, that's a problem.' Solo glanced over his shoulder at the white feathers which had fallen and were drifting gently to the floor. 'Hmm. Oh well, I can always sneak into his room once he's fallen asleep.' Solo laid down on his stomach, with his feet hanging off the end of the couch, and managed to lay his coat over his back. With a sigh, he let himself fall into a light sleep, making sure he would be able to get up later.  
  
  
  
* * * * *  
  
A soft clinking sound woke Solo up. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around. There was no sunlight anywhere, so he knew that it must still be night. Leaning up till his head cleared the couch, his golden eyes swept through the darkness, searching for anyone nearby. 'Coast is clear.'  
  
Standing up, Solo stretched his wings, hearing them crack. He sighed happily before throwing his coat over them. More metallic sounds came to his attention and he looked over towards the open door. 'One of the pilots is in the hangar working. Must be bang-boy. Ah well, he can't hear me in here anyway.' Solo stealthily walked past the couch and down the hall. Deciding it was worth the risk for the lack of clothing, Solo tossed the heavy leather back onto the couch. 'That stupid thing is too much work.'  
  
Reaching into the back of his pants, he pulled the knife out of it's sheath. Playing around with it as quickly as he could, he undid the lock to Duo's room. 'Success.'  
  
Slipping inside, Solo strained his ears for any noises that might give himself away. His footsteps were incredibly light on the padded carpet and all he could hear was Duo's soft breathing. 'Good, he's asleep.' Solo unbuttoned the shirt he wore and, with some difficulty, slid it over his wings and onto the floor. Next his pants followed, until the boxer clad boy walked over to the side of Duo's bed. Having hung out in Duo's room for most of the night, Solo had memorized it pretty well, so he wouldn't hit his leg on a nightstand in the dark. Duo's bed was set up with the headboard against one wall, and the right side of the bed was against the other wall.  
  
Looking down at him, Solo could barely tell where the kid was. The sheets were tossed around and he was tangled up in most of them. But after a while of looking, he discovered Duo's head was facing the wall. 'Perfect.'  
  
Solo's hand slid under the mound of blankets and pried them open. Being as cautious as he could he layed down in the bed next to Duo. He held his breath as his weight caused the bed to move, but Duo didn't even stir. Placing the blankets on top of them both, Solo wondered about what would be the best way to do this. With a deep breath, Solo reached over Duo with both his hands. It was awkward, but he couldn't think of any other way.  
  
With one quick motion, Solo clamped his hand down over Duo's mouth, then wrapped his arm tightly around the boy's waist.  
  
Duo's eyes flew open and he tried to escape from whatever was holding him and at the same time tried to yell for help from the others. 'Oh crap, how did I not hear someone sneak into my room!' As he struggled, the person behind him held on tighter than before. Duo's heart beat faster and he flailed more violently. 'Man, I wish I kept a gun under my pillow like Heero does, but NO, I have to keep it safely in my closet.'  
  
Before the boy could get away, or dislocate something, Solo grabbed onto him tightly and forced him against the bed. Swinging his leg over and kicking the sheets off, Solo rolled on top of him. Straddling his chest, Solo leaned down, staring into the frightened violet eyes.  
  
As soon as the person straddled him, Duo felt a new wave of fear. 'Where are the guys when I need them, this guy is gonna...' The person leaned down at that moment, pushing his face closer. Before Duo's mind could register anything else, he caught a glimpse of golden eyes as the face moved through a beam of light.  
  
'Solo?'  
  
"Kid, quite struggling, it's just me for crying out loud!" Solo hissed at him in a whisper.  
  
Feeling a little bit safer, Duo calmed down, and looked angrily up at Solo. Hoping that the boy was calmer than he looked, Solo removed his hand from his mouth and rolled off of him. 'Well, he hasn't yelled yet, or hit me, so that's a good sign.'  
  
Duo rolled onto his side, and was surprised to see Solo's face as close as it was. Drawing back a little, he tried to calm down, but it was no use. When he tried to whisper at Solo, his voice betrayed the panic his body was still recovering from.  
  
"What are you doing Solo! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"  
  
"Hey, you're the one who freaked out."  
  
This was obviously not what Duo wanted to hear as a small growl began in his throat. 'Uh oh...' Solo thought as he prepared to block a punch from the angry boy.  
  
"Jeez Solo! You pop up in my bed in the middle of the night, pin me, and expect me to take it calmly!" Duo's voice began to get louder and Solo tried to quiet him down.  
  
"Okay, maybe I was wrong to do that, I should have woken you up first."  
  
"Go away." Duo had finally returned to his normal self and rolled over to face the wall, hoping the blond would take a hint. No such luck.  
  
"Look Duo," Solo shifted closer and tried to put his arm around Duo's waist again, but Duo shoved it back. "I wanted to talk to you."  
  
"Then talk to me in the morning, you're getting on my nerves."  
  
Obviously feeling persistent, Solo wrapped his arm around the defiant boy and pulled him close to his chest. Duo half-heartedly struggled, but in all honesty, it felt good to be so close to Solo. Giving up, he rested his head against Solo's chest and sighed melodramatically.  
  
"What's the matter kid?"  
  
"Oh give me a break Solo, we're in my bed spooning. Everything is wrong with that."  
  
"There's nothing wrong with two best friends, or ex-lovers for that matter, getting a little close."  
  
"Ex-lovers? That was what, 12 hours ago? Damn Solo, you really are bad with commitment."  
  
"No, we are ex-lovers. There's a difference between sex and love. The shower thing, that was fun, but it was just sex and you know it. We haven't done anything out of love for the past two years, at least."  
  
Duo was surprised at this, after all, he'd never have expected Solo to be moral or intelligent about anything.  
  
"Why don't you count that shower thing as love?"  
  
Solo looked down at the top of Duo's head, and gently spun him around. Their legs immediately entwined, more out of habit than anything else, and Solo's arm hung loosely at Duo's back, holding him close. He looked down into Duo's eyes and saw what might have been hurt. He lifted Duo's chin up, till they were looking each other, eye to eye.  
  
"Come back to L2 with me." Solo said quietly, but he never took his eyes off of Duo. The violet ones widened in surprise, and his jaw hung open. Not missing a chance, but also not wanting to force anything, Solo leaned in towards Duo. But the boy quickly shut his mouth and pulled his head away from Solo's hand.  
  
"So that's what you wanted to talk about. Same old same old. You want me to stop fighting. To run away. No way Solo. I'm finishing this war."  
  
"But why not just come back for a while, give it a try. I even got myself a new gang, they're a bit rusty still, but come on, I could use a good experienced hand with me." Solo flashed a smile and Duo felt guilty at how excited he looked.  
  
"I'm sorry Solo, but I can't go back with you. I have to keep on fighting, I owe it to so many people..." Duo let his words trail off, as he stared into space, lost in his memories.  
  
Solo grabbed one of his shoulders and shook him hard. Duo blinked and refocused on the honey shaded eyes in front of him.  
  
"Duo, I want you back. To hell with beating around the bush. I don't care if it makes me look like a wimp or anything like that." Solo leaned his forehead against Duo's and pulled him into a semi-hug. "Please."  
  
"Why, so you can just leave me again?"  
  
Duo flinched at how harsh that sounded. For the first time in his life, Solo was asking him for something. And he could tell, if he said no, Solo would respect his wishes. But still he snapped at him. 'But....I want to be with him. I can't though....it wouldn't work out. I always get attached, and then poof, he's gone. That's why Heero is so perfect for me, we're both soldiers, we fight together on the same side, and I'm not trying to have anything long term with him. We have to live our lives expecting to be gone the next day.'  
  
"Solo, do you really love me?" Judging by the sharp intake of breath he could feel through Solo's muscular chest, Duo could tell that his question had caught him off guard.  
  
"Well?" Duo looked up at Solo, the determination obvious in his eyes. But he was confused by what he saw. Solo was looking around as if he was trying to change the subject. 'Oh, I see.'  
  
'I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD!' Solo stared at the ceiling and bit down on his tongue to keep from yelling out what his mind was screaming at him. 'He already said he wouldn't come with me, what difference does it make.' Another part of Solo's mind yelled back 'What if it does make a difference, tell him.' Solo shook his head, then looked back down at Duo's downcast eyes.  
  
"What about you?"  
  
"Huh?" Duo looked back up, lost and confused.  
  
Solo took a deep steadying breath and looked down at the beauty next to him. He began to run his hand up and down Duo's side, and was pleased to see that the boy gasped at the feather soft touch. His hand went from his shoulder, down to the boxers at his waist, then back again. Making sure he had the boy's complete attention, Solo continued.  
  
"Duo, look me in the eyes." Duo stared up at him, even as he bit his lip to not moan as Solo's fingers trailed along his skin.  
  
"I know you don't lie, or at least that's how you used to be. If you can look me in the eyes, and tell me that what you feel for me is real love, then I'll stay with you forever."  
  
Duo felt choked up and stopped paying attention to Solo's fingers. 'Forever? Would he really not leave me?'  
  
Solo leaned down, expecting an answer.  
  
The words from two years ago came flying back to Duo. Professor G was standing there, explaining that Solo had left without a word or a goodbye. He had stood there, not believing what the old man said as he stroked the feather in his pocket, next to the knife. "He was just using you Duo. You're a soldier now, you can't have emotion or attachments to anyone. They'll just leave you because you're a soldier. How could anyone love a god of death." The old man had sneered.  
  
"I can't love you Solo..." Duo's training whispered out, while his heart fought against it with all it's might.  
  
Solo snarled angrily at this and his hand grabbed onto the shoulder he'd been caressing. With one sharp throw, Duo's back landed against the wall. He yelped in pain as his wings were pressed between his body and the wall.  
  
Within a few seconds Solo was standing by the side of the bed, his wings out and his breath coming fast. Duo had never seen him so angry or dangerous looking.  
  
"Go to hell you little whore!" Solo picked up the chair next to Duo's desk and threw it at the window. The glass and wood shattered into a million pieces and fell to the floor. Solo tucked his wings in carefully, and, with one fast jump, he was out the window. Duo could just barely hear the sound of gently flapping wings.  
  
'Solo....I love you.' 


	9. Flight in the night

Trowa sighed at the fact that he wasn't making much progress with the Heavyarms. He was used to always being the lone soldier, he didn't usually fight with others. This had been one of those exceptions, and he'd made a fool of himself for it. 'It's not really my fault. Our first mission together I had the hardest position, and received the most damage.' Closing the cockpit of his gundam, Trowa turned towards the hangar door. 'And now twice in a row my gundam and I have had to be rescued by others.' The only sounds in the hangar were those of Trowa's shoes treading lightly on the catwalk.  
  
The hangar itself was a strange extension of the house. The door came from the kitchen on the first floor, but led straight to the catwalk, about 50 feet off the ground. The house itself stood on a flat ground in the front, and a cliff on the back. The hangar was built into the mountain, leaving only the large metal door to be seen from the outside. This also made it incredibly difficult to attack the hangar, and incredibly easy to escape in a hurry.  
  
Trowa walked down the fire-escape like steps to the second catwalk. This one was about 25 feet from the ground. It makes fixing such huge machines easier to have many levels, so you're closer to more of the mobile suit. Hitting a button on the wall, Trowa climbed down the second set of stairs till he was standing on the metal ground of the hangar. The smooth rolling sound of the hangar door opening was a refreshing change from his footsteps. The cool breeze blew in through the slowly rising wall of metal. 'I need some fresh air to wake me up.' Walking outside, Trowa looked up into the sky, amazed at the way the stars looked from Earth. In the corner of his vision, he could see the dark safehouse, about 200 feet up the cliff wall. Hearing the click of the hangar reaching it's highest position, Trowa turned around to look at the gundams. All in a line, the moonlight playing off their armor, they looked like warriors waiting for battle.  
  
The sound of glass being shattered brought Trowa's attention off the gundams. He turned slowly, pulling his gun out of it's holster. He then ran out till he could see the entire safehouse and aimed towards it. He couldn't see which window had been broken, but shards of glass were falling to the ground nearby, so he knew it was one of the back windows. Out of the corner of his right eye, Trowa saw a large shadow running along the ground in the woods across from him. 'Gotcha.'  
  
* * * * *  
  
'Oh smooth move. Call him a whore, break his window, and take off like the hotheaded fool you are.' After being a little surprised at the height of Duo's window, Solo pulled his wings back against him. He fell and his speed increased. His shoulder length hair was pulled back by the wind as he let the world fly by him. Oddly enough, the wind driving his wings back brought with it a strange sound. A metallic sound, as if something hard had just hit. 'Uh oh.' Looking down, he could see that the hangar door had just finished shutting.  
  
Straining his muscles, Solo brought his wings out like a parachute, slowly himself down prematurely. With the cliff behind him, he stood out like a sitting duck. 'Okay, need a place to hide, very badly.' Tucking his wings back slightly, he fell at an angle towards some trees. Swerving quickly to one side, so as not to clip his wings on a tree, he was soon in a dark wooded clump of trees. 'If I pull my wings in any farther, I won't be able to hold myself up anymore, and at this speed a crash would hurt...a lot. But with them this wide...' A few feathers were ripped out from the end of Solo's left wing, as his thinking had slowed down his reaction time.  
  
The cracking of a twig far behind him, caught Solo's attention, and he cast a quick glance backwards. Trowa stood at the edge of the woods, with a hand gun out and appeared to be looking for something. 'Oh hell...'  
  
* * * * *  
  
Trowa squinted his eyes as he tried to see what had fled into the forest. If it was someone who had broken into their house, he had to catch or kill them as fast as possible. Taking the safety off his gun, he walked carefully into the woods. But soon, something caught his eyes, a large shape moving swiftly towards the other side of the forest. With a smirk, Trowa took off at a full run for the enemy. Trowa could feel that he was catching up on the fugitive, and that this person was running into a lot of the branches of the trees, slowing them down. Trowa paused when he had lost track of the enemy, and stood very still. His muscles relaxed, he didn't concentrate on anything. He didn't move, he barely breathed. And the sound of a twig snapping brought him to the exact place where his quarry was hiding.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Solo flapped madly as he tried his hardest to outrun his pursuer. Despite how careful he was trying to be, every time Solo had to flap his wings to keep himself air born he would hit branches on the nearby trees. The footsteps behind him were growing faster and more accurate as he was sure the person could sense where he was. Praying that his white wings weren't visible enough through the crowded trees, Solo banked a hard right. After going about ten feet in that direction, off his original path, he veered upward, aiming for a large branch.  
  
The sharper parts of the wood stabbed up into Solo's bare feet as he landed as softly as he could. But no matter how hard he tried, the branch bent under his weight. Solo froze in place, standing 30 feet up in a tree as the branch beneath him creaked loudly.  
  
A brown head appeared beneath him almost instantly. 'Ah ha, so it is that Trowa guy who's been chasing me.' The boy turned his head in every direction, keeping his gun at eye level, ready to shoot the slightest movement.  
  
Pressing his wings against the trunk of the tree, Solo prayed that he wouldn't be found. 'Please, don't look up, please let it be too dark to see me. Oh please...'  
  
As the emerald eyes swept through the green forest, gold eyes shut tight, hoping to remain unseen.  
  
'Where is he now? It's like he's gone all of a sudden. I know I heard a noise over here.'  
  
Then, a spot of white shone out against the darkness. Trowa reached out, grabbed hold of the feathers, and pulled.  
  
The two white feathers which Solo had snagged on a branch down below came off and were sitting lightly in Trowa's palm. 'Feathers?'  
  
'Oh no, that's it, I've been found. Guess I have no choice, I'll have to take that kid out. I can't let him get away.' Solo leaned forward slightly, ready to pounce on his victim as soon as he looked up. But Solo remained in this position, as Trowa's head never craned upward, his eyes widening in shock.  
  
Trowa sighed deeply as he put his gun back in it's place. 'Just an owl or something. I've been chasing the shadows of the wildlife. That's a bit embarrassing. Better go check on what really broke that window.' Trowa walked calmly through the woods, and into the hangar. As he passed, he hit the button to close the door.  
  
Solo breathed a sigh of relief in the tree and collapsed on the branch. 'Okay, too close there.' Standing up, and after a careful look around this time, Solo fell out of the tree and spread his wings. The gentle night breeze helped carry him through the forest, and he had an easier time dodging things now that he was at a slower pace.  
  
The metallic scraping sound in the distance caused Solo to pause and nearly crash into the ground. 'Oh you have got to be kiddin me.' Powering the tired muscles in his back which were overworked already, he sped through the remaining area of the forest. Fifty feet away from the last tree he passed, the hangar door was slowly closing. Hoping for another way in, Solo looked up at the window he'd exited, but the light was on, meaning people were in there. 'I can't deal with Duo right now, and there's a chance Heero might be in there anyway.'  
  
The door slid slowly downward, forty feet left till it reached the ground.  
  
Snarling in determination, Solo pushed himself as fast as he could go. Using the small amount of height he had, he turned it into speed and went lower and lower, and faster and faster. He was just barely skimming the surface of the ground, his wings kicking up clouds of dust in his wake. 'Even if I make it in, there's the problem of that kid with the bang again. Dark hangar, maybe I can dodge into a corner and not be seen. If he's even in there, he might have gone in the house.'  
  
Thirty feet away from the door.  
  
With gravity on it's side, the metal wall fell faster, covering up the entrance way. Soon, there was only a twenty foot gap from the bottom of the door, to the ground.  
  
'I can make it.' Reaching out with his hands, Solo grabbed and clawed into the dirt, pushing himself forwards as his wings continued to propel him.  
  
Ten feet left.  
  
Ten feet still open.  
  
His golden hair in his eyes, Solo didn't even blink. His body was running on fumes at this point, and only the need to get back in the house before he was spotted spurred him on. But no matter how much he wanted it, his wings were giving out. They'd reached their maximum.  
  
With only five feet left to the door, only one of his own body lengths, the door had almost reached it's end. The three feet left looked impossible, even to Solo's stubborn mind.  
  
The thought of being stuck under the weight of the door, his front half in, and his back half still out flashed through Solo's tired mind. The thought of feeling his ribs cracking, and stabbing all the organs they were meant to protect.  
  
Solo threw his foot down and used it as a partial brake, spinning himself around. When he was sideways, he wrapped his wings around himself and threw his body at the door. He rolled, bouncing painfully against the rocks on the ground.  
  
The door closed.  
  
Solo bit his lips hard enough to make them bleed to keep himself from screaming out in frustration. His back and wings were pressed against the cold metal of the door. The moon and stars shown down on the boy, and the blood from his lips turned black in the night.  
  
After catching his breath, and feeling the soreness of his muscles and abused wings, Solo picked himself up off of the ground, punching the door in exasperation. 'Now how do I get in.' Going through his choices and options, he came to the conclusion that all of them ranged between breaking in and being shot, asking to be let in, and probably being shot, going to Duo and definitely being shot, or waiting outside in his boxers, and having his secret revealed, then being shot in the morning. 'At least that last one I have some extra time...'  
  
Crossing his legs and sitting down, Solo pondered over any other choices he may have missed. With his head in his hands, all he could hear were the crickets and other creatures of nature.  
  
He wished they would shut up and leave him in peace.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Half an hour later, long after the lights in the house had been turned off, around 4:30 in the morning, Solo was climbing up the side of the cliff. He'd finally had a decent idea, as long as his luck held out. After scaling about 40 feet, he launched off of the rocks and spread his battered wings. He no longer had the strength left in him to flap his way up the cliff. Instead, he had gotten some height and was using his wings as a parasail. Catching even the slightest hint of a breeze that would lift him upwards.  
  
Circling higher and higher, Solo felt like a bored vulture. Not really working, just riding the wind as far as he could go.  
  
Reaching the top of the cliff, and the safehouse, Solo used the remainder of his strength to aim himself towards Duo's broken window. His hands grabbed onto the water pipe a few feet from the window and held on. Solo folded his wings back, resting them, trying to stop the throbbing that still pulsated through him. Leaning over, he glanced through the shards.  
  
Duo was lying in his bed, in his usual position, his face to the wall. His chest rose extremely slow, and in an even pattern. 'Good, looks like he's gone back to sleep. Okay ya street rat, let's show em how the pro's do it.'  
  
Sticking his leg out, he rested his foot on the edge of the window. Easing his weight slowly to that foot, he reached over and used his left hand to also grab onto that side of the window. His right arm and leg were now just using the pole as leverage. Sliding them along the wall, soon they were also braced against the window.  
  
Hoping the desk was as sturdy as it looked, he eased one foot, then the other onto it. His hands still clung to the outside of the window as he pulled his wings as far in as he could. Now one hand was moved to the window sill, then the other. 'Phew.' After crabwalking onto the table, Solo stood up on the surprisingly strong piece of furniture. Stepping slowly down from it, Solo deftly began to pick up, and put on his discarded clothing. Now fully dressed, with the exception of the jacket which was on the couch where he had left it, Solo walked over to the door.  
  
As his foot fell on a certain piece of wood, the floor creaked. Solo winced and froze again, not even breathing. The seconds passed by, but there was no movement from the boy in the bed. 'He must be out like a light to not hear me. Oh well.'  
  
In a few fluid movements, Solo was standing in the hallway, Duo's door closed, fully clothed, and most importantly, inside the house. Leaping over the entire staircase, relying on his wings to slow him down at the end, Solo was only a few feet from the couch.  
  
The door leading to the hangar began to open.  
  
Solo bent his knees and sprang forward, over the back of the couch. Once on it, he carefully pulled the jacket over him, to cover himself.  
  
The door finished creaking, and Solo could hear the sound of light footsteps. A soft light flooded the room coming from the kitchen. The sounds of someone opening a can of soda were followed by the refrigerator door closing, and Trowa returning to the hangar.  
  
'Boy, what a night...' Both minds thought simultaneously. 


	10. Falling

Duo walked down the hallway, feeling strangely refreshed this morning. 'Even though I lost that bit of sleep cause of Solo. But it was worth it.' Duo's mind wandered to when Heero came rushing into his room. Thinking quickly, he had pretended to be asleep and when Heero flipped on the light, he groggily woke up. That way he didn't have to lie about what had happened to the window, or worse, tell him the truth. Then he had just left to inspect the whole house, before he must have declared it safe and decided that a bird or something must have broken the window. 'Five bucks says he'll still be trying to find out what did it today.'  
  
Duo paused and gawked at what he saw when he entered the living room. Solo, lying face down passed out on the couch, with his leather jacket completely covering his back and wings. 'Aw hell. I thought he left.'  
  
Duo pouted standing in the doorway. Then he happened to look over just in time to catch Heero staring right at him. The boy turned his cool blue gaze away slowly, as if he didn't really notice Duo.  
  
Duo just smirked and walked over to the unconscious blond.  
  
"Morning sunshine!" Duo yelled as he stuck his boot out and kicked Solo's shoulder.  
  
"AHH!" When the boy had calmed down after a minute, he surveyed the damage to his foot. A knife, Solo's ever present knife to be exact, was stuck into the thick sole of his boot. Solo's hand was still clutching it tightly. Almost loosing his balance, Duo bounced up and down on one foot as Solo held his other in the air. Looking down, he could see that the golden eyes were paler today, and had red creeping out from the sides. 'Looks like he had a bad night.'  
  
With one grunt and a quick pull, Solo retrieved his knife. Slowly, almost as if he were in pain, he slipped his arms into the leather jacket which was covering him, and returned the blade to it's sheath in the back of his pants.  
  
Duo continued bouncing around the room, trying to decide if his foot had been stabbed. After feeling confident that he blade had only sunk deeply in the rubber, without actually touching his skin, he put his foot down and glared at Solo.  
  
Solo pushed himself up into a sitting position and slid his legs over the side of the couch. His back was on fire, as if all his muscles had turned into rock over night. 'I musta pulled every back muscle that exists last night.' Solo had long ago realized that the human body is not meant to fly, at least not on it's own muscular strength. Each time he did, even for a short time, practically all of him would hurt the next morning. And the next week. Standing up finally, Solo looked down at Duo with an angry stare. 'That stupid kid's never even given flying a try. He has no clue how much it takes out of ya.'  
  
"Why'd ya wake me up early." Even to Duo's ears, Solo's voice sounded strained and exhausted.  
  
"It's 1 in the afternoon."  
  
"Like I said, shorty, why so early?!?"  
  
Heero turned around to watch the two bicker with each other. He loved it. The way that Duo was always annoying Solo. 'Even more than he annoys me.' Inside, Heero was smirking. Watching the way Duo's eyes would grow bigger every time Solo would hurl an insult at him. This continued for a while, the two mighty warriors of sarcasm facing off. Clearing his throat brought the two out of the fight and both directed their eyes to him.  
  
With one death glare, both stopped their arguing. As Heero turned back to his laptop, he could see the reflection of Solo and Duo both sticking their tongues out at him in the screen.  
  
Taking any excuse to get away from Solo for even a few minutes of his life, Duo walked over towards Heero.  
  
"What's up, do we have a mission?"  
  
"Pilots 01, 02, and 03, you are ordered to return to space in the span of one week. You will receive further instructions there." Heero read off the email.  
  
"Oh, space, hmm, maybe we'll end up on the same shuttle. Wouldn't that be nice." Duo quickly pushed Solo's arm away from his shoulder and shot him a dangerous look.  
  
"Some things aren't meant for your annoying, eavesdropping self."  
  
"Ouch." Solo clutched his heart melodramatically before walking over to the coffee pot. As he began to pour himself a cup, the door to the hangar swung noisily open.  
  
Trowa shuffled in, his one visible eye more red than green by now.  
  
"You stayed up all night working on the Heavyarms, didn't you?"  
  
Trowa just nodded silently to Heero before looking at the coffee in Solo's hand. With a sympathetic look, one Duo had never seen, Solo stretched out the cup, offering it to the exhausted pilot.  
  
"Get some sleep." Heero ordered callously from his seat, and Trowa nodded, acknowledging this to Heero. Then he politely shook his head to show Solo that he needed sleep, and not caffeine  
  
All three remained silent as they watched the beaten and sleep deprived boy trudge up the stairs, the into his room. When the door closed, the room felt slightly relieved that he would be feeling better soon.  
  
"I'm going to go check something." And with that, Duo and Solo were once again left alone in the room.  
  
"Heero's probably going to go see if he can figure out what broke the glass in my room." He hissed.  
  
Solo looked slightly worried and looked into the dark hangar, but the boy had already gotten too far away to see. "Oh well, let him look around, all he'll find is more things that'll make him think it was a harmless bird."  
  
"Whatever." Duo walked over and began to rummage through all the cabinets in the kitchen, finding...absolutely nothing. 'Oh yeah, it was my turn to go get groceries the other day. This is not good.'  
  
Before he could react, Duo was suddenly picked up off his feet by strong arms from behind him. 'Uh oh. This is much worse.' Duo began to struggle, and when he realized that he was being carried to the couch, began to flail for his life.  
  
"Solo, let go of me. I'll scream if you don't and I bet Heero will come and cap your-" Duo's voice was cut off by Solo's mouth. At the moment, Solo had thrown Duo on the couch and laid himself on top of him. Duo's eyes slowly slid shut, with a far away look in them.  
  
Solo wasted no time, sliding his strong tongue past Duo's lips. He grunted in happy surprise to the speed Solo was going, and leaned up farther into the kiss. 'Why am I letting him do this to me?' But everything felt so right that Duo ignored his senses and continued to moan into his best friends mouth. Solo slid his hands up from around Duo's waist and pressed his shoulders down. Solo opened his mouth and pulled away from Duo, but not before flicking his tongue onto the younger boy's one more time.  
  
Duo strained against Solo's strong arms, letting his instincts guide him. He smirked up at him, wanting to taste more of him. But the look reflecting in Solo's golden eyes made him pause. 'He looks so sad...'  
  
"I'm sorry Duo."  
  
Duo opened his mouth to ask what Solo was sorry about, but soon he it was preoccupied. Now Solo was acting more like the one he knew, grinding his hips down, forcing Duo against the couch. His mouth pressing down hard enough to bruise. Never caring about anything but satisfying his need. Duo loved the feeling as he reached around Solo, trying to pull him closer. As soon as his hands put pressure on the leather covered back, Solo tensed up and pulled his mouth free. Unsure of what this meant, Duo tried to pull him closer, putting more pressure on Solo's damaged back. He let out a yelp of pain through clenched teeth, before Duo realized he was in pain.  
  
"Solo, what's wrong?"  
  
"....uhh......my back....it's killing me....." Solo panted, the pain sapping his strength. One of his eyes was halfway closed in pain, and the other one winced every time he even took a breath.  
  
"I'm sorry, how'd ya hurt it?" Duo placed his hands gently on Solo's chest, easing him down onto himself. 'It must hurt him to be holding himself up in that position.'  
  
"It's nothing, just kinda pulled every muscle flying. You should try it. Worse than a hangover the next morning, but it's worth it."  
  
The pain seeming to have passed, Solo smiled down at Duo. Stretching his arms carefully forward, he placed them behind Duo's head. With one last smile, he leaned down and their mouths once again connected, so used to each other that they no longer had to look at where they were.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Heero was walking around the hangar, searching for any clues about what had happened the night before. 'There's no way anyone could have broken a window and snuck in without Duo or myself having caught them.' Seeming happy with the status of the hangar, Heero climbed both flights to where the gundam cockpits were. Methodically he began to check each gundam for any entry, in case the intruder had been after them and not their pilots.  
  
Heero's head shot up as soon as he heard the cry from the living room. A million causes raced through his head, none of them being too pleasant if the cry had come from Duo. Powering his strong legs, Heero was to the door in seconds. Then he paused and removed his gun, turning off the safety. Carefully walking inside, Heero saw no signs of a struggle, nor did he see Duo or Solo.  
  
His gaze swept around the room, but still he couldn't find the source of the yell. With a few more steps, Heero was only a few feet from the back of the couch. A movement caught his eye and he looked quickly up at the television. It had been sitting there harmlessly turned off for the entire day. Heero's eyes widened and his jaw hung open.  
  
In the dark reflection, he could just barely make out that there were two forms on the couch, one laying on top of the other. When their mouths parted briefly in need of air, he could see Duo's panting face on the bottom, and recognized Solo's black leather jacket on top.  
  
Heero could feel his eyebrow begin to twitch out of anger as he watched the two press against each other. He knew he shouldn't be angry, Duo was never his to begin with, he didn't even know that Heero had a crush on him. But seeing Solo so easily do what he'd dreamed of, and this time with Duo's obvious consent...  
  
Heero turned and quickly returned his gun to it's holster, not quite trusting his self control at the moment.  
  
With a few silent strides, Heero was back in the cool darkness of the hangar. Closing his eyes as he walked, he tried his hardest to block out the image of the two on the couch together, as well as the noises they kept making.  
  
'I need something to keep me busy.' Looking around, he realized the gundams were his only companions. 'I guess I could clean Wing Zero up a bit.'  
  
The gundam stood proudly in the hangar, splashes of oil marring it's face and chest. Mirroring a soldier covered in his enemies blood.  
  
Picking up a few rags from the bucket where they were kept, Heero began to climb Zero in order to cover both its wounds and his own.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Duo could feel his chest rise against Solo's again. He was really starting to enjoy this. Solo's hand deftly swept down his smaller lover's sides, quickly arriving at his hips. Duo broke away form the kiss, pressing his forehead against Solo's as he began to pant.  
  
Solo's smirk was enough to give Duo a hard on, let alone the fact that his hands were traveling slowly towards the zipper of his pants.  
  
Duo paused as he realized that they were in the middle of the living room, with both Trowa and, more importantly, Heero at home.  
  
"Wait a sec!" Duo pulled Solo's hands from their current position.  
  
"Whaddya mean wait a sec?" Solo countered, feeling insulted. Duo bit his lip in worry, and began to struggle beneath him.  
  
"Come on Solo, get off."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because we're in the middle of the living room and Trowa or Heero might walk in any second!" Duo practically yelled.  
  
Skulking, Solo got off of Duo and sat down on the couch with a pout. Duo stood up, and decided that he needed to take a walk to cool down. Looking at the barren kitchen, he decided to kill two birds with one stone.  
  
"I'm gonna go get some groceries so we can eat, okay?"  
  
Solo mumbled something that sounded like whatever, before flipping the tv on.  
  
With a sigh, Duo grabbed his keys and poked his head into the hangar. With the abrupt change of lighting, he couldn't see very well, but yelled out, "Hey Heero, I'm going to go get some grub, be back in a little while.", and left without waiting for an answer.  
  
Solo smirked, and decided if he couldn't be screwing Duo at the moment, he could be screwing with Heero's head. 'Hehe, this'll pass the time.'  
  
Sticking his hands in his pockets, Solo realized just how sick of that coat he was becoming. 'If these wings don't go away soon, I'm gonna have to go buy a different coat, this one's starting to reek.'  
  
Solo sidled up to the railing next to Wing Zero and casually leaned on it. His eyes picked up on Heero's movements quickly. He was standing on top of the gundam's head, trying to wipe away a large grease spot on the mobile suit's eye. After a sigh, he bent down to his knees and leaned over, trying to better reach the spot.  
  
"Hey guy, how's it goin?" Solo yelled up, smirking as much as he could as the pilot jumped unexpectedly.  
  
His only response was a cobalt death glare in the direction of the annoying blond. Then Heero went back to scrubbing at the spot as if his life depended on it.  
  
"Aw come on, don't give me the cold shoulder. Can't we be buddies?" Solo's voice was mocking and sarcastic. Heero growled low in his throat and just kept scrubbing.  
  
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Solo paused and then began to laugh hysterically at his own inside joke.  
  
'What's he laughing at. He must have gone insane.' Heero concluded as he stared at the tall boy with his head thrown back and his mouth wide open as he laughed.  
  
'Ouch. Ouch. Uh oh, I think I felt something tear.' Solo was forced to stop laughing as it caused him so much pain.  
  
"Listen will you just go away and shut u-" Heero stopped mid-tirade as his concentration slipped, and so did his knees. Without realizing it, he'd been paying more attention to Solo then his work and was falling off the gundam. He tried to brace himself, but most of him was covered in oils and greases so he had no grip.  
  
Solo froze when he saw Heero start to fall off his gundam. At the angle he was at, he couldn't hold on, and his knees and feet were too slippery to hold on. As his body fell, his head smacked painfully against the cheek of the gundam. From where he stood, Solo could see Heero's eyes shut as the hit had knocked him out.  
  
'Oh crap.'  
  
Without even thinking, Solo had taken two steps and was now leaping onto the railing. With both feet firmly planted on it, Solo bent his legs and used them to throw himself out into the air. Ignoring the pain, he pushed his arms back as far as they would go, causing his jacket to begin to slide off as the air caught it. Spreading his wings as hard as he could, he forced his jacket completely off. In the back of his mind, he could hear the leather rustling as it began to fall to the ground.  
  
Every muscle burned and stretched as Solo spread his wings. He could feel the rest of him begin to shake as the pain spread through him. He ignored it for now, flapping his wings till he was angled upwards toward where Heero's body was falling fast.  
  
With a few powerful beats Solo had almost reached Heero's body. Head first, he was spiraling downward, blood trailing from the gash on his head.  
  
Looking up, Solo readjusted his angle and flapped his wings forward to brake himself. Flinging out his arms, he managed to grab a hold of the shoulders of the fallen pilot. The rest of Heero's body continued to fall, ending up with Solo clutching Heero's back to his chest. Then, suddenly, the colors began to blur around him and Solo remembered something. Humans weren't meant to fly with their own strength. He couldn't hold up two people.  
  
The two began to plummet as fast as Heero had on his own. His wings began to feel useless, like when a child tries to use an umbrella as a parachute. The ground became Solo's main focus, and how fast it was racing at him.  
  
'I can't believe I'm doing this.'  
  
With one quick motion, Solo flung himself over so that his back was falling, and he held onto Heero as tightly as he could. Spreading his wings in a futile attempt to slow down or at least get into a less painful angle, Solo took a deep breath.  
  
The two smashed into the hard floor, Solo felt his head hit, and then, there was nothing but darkness. 


	11. Knives of the angels

Duo shifted the heavy grocery bags in his hands in an attempt to get the keys out of his pocket. With a groan, he finally gave in and put the five bags down on the cement walkway in front of the door to the house. Fishing around in his pocket for a minute, a triumphant look appeared on his face as he pulled out his keys. Selecting the correct one, he unlocked the door, and opened it a crack.  
  
After much shifting, Duo finally had all five bags in his arms again. The door flung open under the weight of his hard kick and he strolled inside, using his hip to close it again.  
  
Looking around, he couldn't see any of the three he had left here an hour ago. 'Hmm, wonder where they all are.'  
  
Dumping the food on the counter, Duo began to sort through the piles and put things in their rightful places. 'Ah well, it's not worth going to find them, everyone ends up here eventually.' With a smile, Duo finished putting everything away, and grabbed the jar of peanut butter and the box of Ritz crackers before flopping down on the couch and turning the tv on.  
  
* * * * *  
  
'Uhh.....what the....oh yeah...' Solo's eyes slowly flickered open, trying to remember why he was in so much pain that he couldn't move, and why he was staring up at Wing Zero.  
  
Looking down, Solo froze as stabs of pain went through his head and neck. 'Oh that's right, I fell and crashed here thanks to this kid.' Summoning a small bit of strength, Solo threw Heero's still unconscious body to his side. Or at least, he had meant to throw him, but just that movement caused his entire back to scream out, so he settled for rolling the boy off of him.  
  
As Solo lay there, he tried to take a few deep breaths, but felt like something was stabbing through his back. 'Wow, okay, note to self, don't do that ever again. Ah, my muscles feel like they're about to pop out of my skin.' He tried to roll over, before gasping out in pain. 'Or light on fire. Definitely one of those two things.'  
  
Taking a very deep breath, which caused a flash of pain in it's own right, Solo sat up straight. He immediately regretted it. His back felt like he had snapped every muscle in half with just that one movement. He leaned forward in his sitting position and braced himself with his arms. Looking down, he could see them shaking from the pain and exhaustion. After a few minutes, the pain subsided, and he decided to try standing up. Pulling his knees up beneath his chin, he was pleased to find that they didn't cause him any pain.  
  
Slowly he eased his weight onto his arms, now in a painful crouch. 'Come on, you can do it.' With one strong push of his undamaged legs, Solo found himself standing, and struggling to stay that way. His head was swimming, and colored dots surrounded his vision. His back felt a miniscule amount better now that he was standing. It still hurt when he moved though.  
  
Once his head had cleared, Solo looked down at himself. A large red spot had soaked through his shirt. 'From where Heero's head had been.' Looking at the boy, Solo was shocked at the large puddle of blood they had been laying in. 'That must be one nice gash to do all that.' Solo head continued to throb, and feeling a bad premonition, he reached up and felt the back of his head. Sure enough, his head was now bleeding as well. 'Must have landed...well, as hard as I thought I guess.'  
  
Sighing, Solo looked around, praying that his coat was nearby. Ten feet away, it was a dark, shining puddle of leather.  
  
Walking didn't hurt as much as Solo had thought it would, especially if he walked softly and didn't jar his back when his feet would land. Taking a few minutes to think about the best way of doing this, Solo stuck his foot under his coat. Gently lifting it up, he brought it to where his hand could grab it. 'Ha, didn't even hafta been down.'  
  
Solo tried to bend his wings up, so that he could put his coat on, but found that the pain nearly caused him to black out. 'Yeah, okay, I don't care if people are falling to their deaths. Screw them. I'm not flying again in my life unless I have to.' Pouting, he slid his jacket over both arms and let it fall on his back, lightly. He was once again thankful that the coat was nice and loose.  
  
The weight of the coat on his back and shoulders hurt, but he could handle it. 'Once I get into Duo's room, I can take this off so it won't bother me anymore.'  
  
Glaring down at Heero, the thought crossed his mind for the hundreth time. 'Why did I save you?' In Solo's opinion, Duo's brief sadness was nothing compared to not having any competition for the boy. 'Without him, Duo would probably come back to L2 with me...' Solo reached back and pulled out his knife. Bending down painfully, he picked up the boy's prone body. Using one hand and arm to support his weight, Solo brought the blade up to Heero's already bloody scalp. 'Duo wouldn't be able to tell a gash from a knife wound...and neither would that guy Trowa.' Solo paused, looking around at the blood and feathers on the floor. Remembering that his head was bleeding already, Solo slipped the knife into it's sheath.  
  
'Damn it. Guess I have to go for the hero angle.'  
  
Shifting his burden, Solo began to walk up the two flights of catwalks.  
  
When he was five feet from the crack of light that signified the door, he paused. 'Me, covered in blood, carrying an unconscious bleeding Heero who looks like he got wailed on with something metal...hmm....I hope Duo doesn't kill me.' * * * * * *  
  
Duo looked up from the cartoon on the tv as soon as he heard the door to the hangar open. Expecting Heero, he turned around on the couch and laid his head on his hands, looking and smiling over. Instead, Solo came walking in, looking tired, in pain, and bloody. Duo's smile fell into a concerned look as he stood up and began to walk towards Solo. A small trail of blood was running down his face, and he could see his golden hair had red seeping through it. Only then did Duo finally look down and see what Solo had been struggling with.  
  
Heero's head had an obvious gash running down the top and back of it, dripping blood slowly to the floor, running over Solo's arm as it did. The rest of Heero's body looked to be in perfect condition, but he was unconscious and Duo didn't give a damn. 'How could he.'  
  
Duo stalked forward, taking Heero's prone body from Solo. Solo took a step back when he saw the look Duo gave him, his violet eyes were shadowed by his hair and looked black as obsidian.  
  
"I-" Solo paused and bent over a bit, one eye wincing at the pain he felt when he spoke. He hadn't taken a breath that deep and now his lungs rebelled against him. Duo had his back turned to him by now and was walking over to the couch. He slowly laid Heero down on it, propping his head up on the arm, making it easier to treat.  
  
"I'm gonna go to your room and clean myself up." Solo finished and walked down the hallway. Occasionally he would step to hard and his back would be jarred, causing his whole face to wince in the sharp pains. 'And I always thought knife cuts were bad...sheesh.'  
  
Solo gently closed the door and walked over to his duffel bag. After a while of rummaging he found some semi-clean clothes he could put on.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
The closet of the house looked to be a mix between a mechanic's and a paramedic's. Duo picked up a few power tools and put them on a different shelf. 'Stupid Howard, there must be about five closets in this house and he keeps everything in the same one.' Duo touched something sticky and pulled out a peanut butter sandwich from who knows when. Stuffing most of it in his mouth he put the last half back where he found it and continued his search. 'Ah ha.' Duo pulled out the large box of medical supplies where the bandages where kept.  
  
He dropped this box on the floor next to the couch and quickly sterilized Heero's wound. 'It's not really that bad, I'm actually surprised he's been out this long.' Duo wrapped the gauze around and around, before taping it in place with the medical tape. 'There we go, he should be good as new.'  
  
"Uhh...." Duo's head snapped to the couch as Heero moaned as he painfully opened his eyes.  
  
"Hey Heero, I bandaged up your busted head, how are you feeling?"  
  
"....arr....Solo..." Heero still sounded slightly dazed but Duo didn't hang around to see if he was really okay. His feet pounded on the carpet as he sprinted towards the door of his room.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Solo was just letting his jacket slide painfully down his arms, it had been harder to get off then on for some reason, when the door to Duo's room burst open. 'What the-' Worried it might be Trowa or Heero Solo quickly put his jacket back on and let out a small yelp as his back burned at the touch.  
  
Solo let out a loud sigh as he realized it was just Duo and smirked at him.  
  
"So-" But before he could continue Duo was in his face and grabbed a hold of the front of his jacket.  
  
"What did you do to him!?!" Duo pushed with all his strength, and being weakened already, Solo couldn't fight back. Duo picked him up slightly, and slammed him hard against the wall.  
  
"AHH!!" Solo screamed out, as his eyes rolled back in pain. For a few seconds, he felt like the pain would make him pass out. Duo saw this look on his face, he'd never seen this look and Solo had never once made a sound when he was in pain. 'Something's wrong...his back was hurting earlier, but not that much.'  
  
"What's wrong, Solo?" Duo had let go of Solo's jacket and he had fallen into his arms, unable to continue standing.  
  
Under the weight of his best friend, Duo was bending down and his eyes were drawn to the floor beneath Solo. Blood was slowly pooling outward from his feet, and it was running down the backs of his calves.  
  
"Solo, hey Solo. Stand up!" Duo shouted at him as he helped him stand. Solo was returning from the daze he had been flung into and stood up straight, looking a little embarrassed at falling onto Duo.  
  
"I'm okay, really Duo, quit worrying so much."  
  
"What happened, why are you and Heero both bleeding, did you attack him or something." Duo slowly made his way around to his back as he asked Solo this, searching for a visible wound that could be causing all the blood.  
  
"Hey, maybe he attacked me!?!" Solo shouted back, insulted at his so called best friend taking Heero's side. "But no, we didn't fight. Heero fell and hit his head, that's all."  
  
"Then why are you bleeding so much." Not finding any open wounds but the very small one on his head, Duo glared at Solo's back. "Solo, take your jacket off."  
  
Solo wheeled around to face Duo and put his hands up." No, no, that's okay, my backs fine."  
  
Duo didn't smile or even respond, he just kept staring at Solo, anger fading slowly away.  
  
"Oh I can't believe you, you suck do you know that." Solo turned around and pulled his arms back again, bracing for the pain that would come when his sore back was being touched by his leather.  
  
Duo gently reached up and tried to pull the coat off as slowly and gently as possible, still Solo flinched every now and then, but having his arms behind him was making the it slide off as easily as it could.  
  
Solo heard Duo audibly gasp as he felt the jacket completely removed.  
  
"What's wrong Duo?"  
  
"Oh God Solo..." Duo's eyes were huge when Solo craned his neck over his shoulder to see his frightened expression. Then his eyes wandered from Duo's stare to the mirror behind the boy. After seeing his reflection, Solo nearly passed out for the second time in the past five minutes.  
  
His wings were mangled. Not broken, not bruised or bent. Mangled was the only word to describe them. Of the two, the left one was less injured. Chunks of feathers had been ripped out and the skin beneath them was scraped up and red, like a rug burn. Blood oozed out of the burns, once again staining his wings red. The right wing however, was far worse. Half way along the first bone of his wing, something white and red was protruding from a gash in his skin. It took Solo and Duo both a few seconds to realize that the bone had been bent back and broken in half, the sharp point of the bone stabbing through the skin.  
  
Blood practically poured from this wound, and the rest of Solo's right wing hung limp at an odd angle, also scraped and missing some feathers. But Solo couldn't figure something out, he could see the bone of his wing, but not the point. It was about half way down his back, to the side of his spine, but still he couldn't see the sharp end.  
  
"Duo, where's the point of the broken bone." Being behind Solo, Duo had a better view and could see what Solo couldn't The bone had broken through the skin, then been forced back into Solo's back. Duo decided that was where most of the blood was coming from.  
  
"Solo, has breathing been painful since this happened..." Duo's voice got quieter and quieter as he continued, eventually dropping off.  
  
"Yeah, but I figured I just pulled a muscle, why do you-" Solo paused as his shocked mind suddenly made sense of the numerous shocks of pain going through his body. 'The broken bone, it stabbed me in the back. How ironic sounding. I stabbed myself in the back.'  
  
"Solo you might have punctured your lung, I can't tell how deep the bone's embedded. And I can't take care of wounds like this."  
  
" I'm not going to any hospital if that's what you're thinking. No way in hell are a bunch of quacks gonna be doing experiments on me."  
  
"Okay fine. But the only person I know who can fix broken bones like this is Heero. He was trained a lot more than any of the rest of us, especially in medicine. That way he wouldn't have to ever risk a hospital visit if he was seriously hurt."  
  
"Oh yeah, even better, that kid ain't seeing this or touching me Duo."  
  
"Solo, listen to me, if you're wings try and reset themselves with that bone stuck in your lung, it's gonna tear straight through it."  
  
Solo paled at the thought and gulped away the lump of fear in his throat.  
  
Duo walked over to his desk and reached into a drawer, pulling out the knife Solo had left him years ago. With a few precise slits, Solo's shirt fell off in pieces.  
  
"Lay down on the bed, I'm going to go get Heero and the medical supplies."  
  
"No Duo." Solo tried to say as he did as he was told. But his voice lacked the conviction from earlier, he was too tired to argue now. As Duo reached the door, he paused and turned to look at Solo trying to bend over and lay down on the bed.  
  
"How did that happen, and what really happened to Heero?"  
  
Solo sighed as he finally fell to the bed, then looked up at Duo. His long blonde bangs fell in front of his face as he spoke. "I was telling the truth, Heero was cleaning the top of his gundam, when he slipped and fell, cutting his head open and getting himself knocked unconscious. Then I kinda tried to catch him, but I was too tired, I could barely keep myself up, so we sorta fell to the ground and then I was unconscious too." Solo smirked up at Duo's surprised expression.  
  
"You saved Heero? And at your own risk. Wow, I never woulda guessed I'd see this day." Duo walked out of the doorway and down the hall, and just barely heard Solo angrily shout, "Don't tell him!"  
  
'I understand Solo. But right now I'm gonna have some problems of my own right now.' With a sigh, Duo approached Heero, who was sitting on the couch and trying to inspect the bandage on his head.  
  
"Hey Heero, how's your head?"  
  
"Fine, I don't have a concussion."  
  
"That's good." 'Usual pilot small talk, only in our group.' Duo shook his head and tried to get back on course.  
  
"Heero, Solo's hurt and I need you to help him, he needs a bone to be set."  
  
For just a second Heero glared in the general direction of Solo before looking up at Duo. His soft violet eyes were begging for help, and despite his better instincts he nodded his head.  
  
"Okay, thanks Heero. But first I...uhh....you kinda.....hmm.....you kinda need to know something about me and Solo."  
  
Cobalt eyes darkened and expected what they'd already seen.  
  
"I think it would be better if I showed you. Even we don't really know why it happens, but it just does."  
  
"What happens?" Heero's brow came together in confusion, he thought for sure Duo was going to say something about them being lovers, or boyfriends or something.  
  
"Something happens." But before Duo could continue, Heero interrupted again. "Duo, I don't understand." With a sigh, Duo decided he had no other choice, there was no way he'd be able to convince Heero unless he showed him, so why bother.  
  
"Okay, just, promise not to scream or shoot me or anything, okay?"  
  
Heero nodded and Duo took a few steps back. Slowly, with an unsure look on his face, Duo began to unzip his red shirt that he'd been wearing. Heero's eyes widened a little and his jaw began to slack. With a shake of his head to clear his thoughts, Heero brought back the calm face he usually wore. 'Don't drool. Do not drool. Oh no, he's taking off his pants....DON'T DROOL!'  
  
Duo's red shirt had been discarded to the floor, and now he was struggling to pull the loose black jeans he had on down. After a bit of shifting back and forth, Duo managed to get his pants down to his knees, then smiled, satisfied. Heero just blinked in confusion before Duo quickly pulled his pants back up and zipping them back in place. 'Hmm, it's like he had a problem getting them down, but not getting them up.'  
  
"Okay Heero. Remember, I can't explain this, so don't waste your breath asking questions. I can answer two that you're already going to have though. Yes this is real, you're not dead or dreaming. And second, no I am not a demon."  
  
If possible, Heero was now even more utterly lost and even Duo could see it in his eyes. 'Okay, here we go. I hope he takes this well..." The chest he was staring at rose with a deep sigh, and Heero tore his gaze up into Duo's eyes. They were apprehensive. Then, something dark moved, and Heero's eyes flicked in that direction. Something large and dark was appearing behind Duo.  
  
"What the hell?!" It took Heero a minute to realize he had yelled that out loud as two enormous black wings stretched outward from behind Duo. The skin rustled as it was slowly stretched out, the folds in the skin being pulled taught as the bones also unfolded outward. The tips of Duo's wings grazed the two walls, easily 30 feet across from each other and Duo stopped stretching them. As Heero looked from one side to the other, he realized that these wings were much more like a bird's wings in structure, even though the black colored skin stretched across the bones made them appear like a bat.  
  
After letting the surprised pilot soak everything in for a few seconds, Duo pulled his wings into a relaxed position, hanging behind him, the tips touching the floor as the angled out to his sides.  
  
"Well, you didn't scream or shoot me, so I'm very proud. You did say "What the hell?" but that's okay, I would have said the same thing." Duo paused, noticing that Heero's eyes were still fixated with his wings.  
  
"Woo-hoo. Up here. Hey, I'm talkin to ya here." With a pout, Duo's wings pushed out a little farther, his emotions once again being betrayed by his body language.  
  
"So why are you showing me this?"  
  
"Because I'm not the only one who has these....things."  
  
Heero's eyebrow merely raised a bit. Then he nodded for Duo to continue.  
  
"Yeah, okay, I don't know why, maybe there are angels or gods or something out there and one decided he was gonna listen in on me and Solo one day. You see, Solo died, when we were young. He was the leader of a little gang of kids that all were homeless on L2. I kinda ended up the second in command, and, to make a long story short, everyone in the gang died but me."  
  
Now Heero seemed more interested. He didn't know anything about the other pilot's pasts, although he'd heard glimpses of Trowa's while they traveled together. He's just assumed the other three had normal lives and families till they became pilots.  
  
"Yeah, so, the most the two of us have been able to put together, and this is just our thoughts, after all, we don't have a clue why it happened, but suddenly Solo was alive again. And he had these freakin huge angel wings, and I get stuck with a pair of bat like ones. So we figure someone decided Solo deserved a second chance at life, and for some reason we both have to have these things pop out of us every few years or so to remind us to stick together. You see once these things come out of us, the only way they'll go back in is if we see each other, you know, hang out for a while."  
  
Again, Heero just blinked and looked dazed.  
  
"Okay Heero, I know it's a lot to think about, lots of questions to be asked, yadda yadda yadda. But we have an emergency right now and Solo needs your help."  
  
"Why does he need my help?"  
  
"He...uh, he kinda fell down and broke his wing. Badly. And it punctured a lung, I think."  
  
"And you need me to set the bone back in place."  
  
"Exactly. It needs to be set really well, when these wings go back into our backs, they seem to set themselves inside, against our bones so that there's enough room to fit them. If his is at the wrong angle..." He shuddered at the thought of what a broken bone could do to Solo's organs if it was trying to reset itself.  
  
"Okay."  
  
Duo smiled, before turning around walking down the hallway to his room, tucking his wings in so they wouldn't hit the walls and doorframe. Heero followed a few feet behind, avoiding the large limbs.  
  
When Heero walked into the room, the smell of blood surprised even him. Looking at Duo's bed, he could see why. The bleeding from Solo's back and wings hadn't stopped, it had slowly been spreading through his wings and onto the bed.  
  
At the sound of footsteps, Solo pulled himself up on his hands and knees and turned around to look at the door. No patronizing smile, no sardonic grin. His face was as stoic as Heero's as he glared at said pilot.  
  
"Well, Duo says you can help, or are you just gonna stand there like an idiot all day long."  
  
"Solo lay down and shut up so we can get you fixed up." The golden eyed boy snorted and did as he was told. Heero approached slowly and reach his hands out to start investigating how badly he was injured. But Duo's hand stopped his. Heero looked down at thin but strong hand holding his own and took a deep breath before daring a look into the violet eyes. Duo shook his head and mouthed the word 'wait'. Then he paused and looked around the room, searching for something. Then he turned to Heero and mouthed 'let me use your gun'. Heero shot him a surprised look. 'Not like that' he mouthed, 'just trust me okay?'. Heero reached to the waist of his spandex and pulled the gun from it's hidden holster. Duo took it and smiled, nodding to Heero.  
  
Before anyone had time to react, Duo leaned over and hit Solo in the back of his head as hard as he could with the gun. Solo's body went limp, all tension draining out of it as he fell unconscious.  
  
"Solo's not good with having people help him. If he even let you near him without a punch or kick, he would be bitching the whole time. It's better for everyone this way."  
  
"Whatever you say. Go get the box of medical supplies that are in the living room."  
  
"Right." Duo sprinted off and was back in the room in less than a minute. He put the box on the floor by the bed and took a quick look at Solo's head. A very small bump was forming where he hit him. 'Hehe, he's gonna kill me when he wakes up and realized what happened.'  
  
* * * * * * * well, bit of a cliffhanger like thing there. ^_^ the next chapter will be the last of The Past Becomes You. Thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing. :::Tiv perks his ears up::: Tiv says thank you too. ^_~ I hope you'll enjoy the finale ending ...at least..it's the ending until I write the sequel to this fic which won't be ready till summer, sorry readers! 


	12. No Farewells

"Duo, get some towels ready to soak up the blood." He nodded and stood over his friend with a towel ready in hand. Heero reached out and grabbed a hold of the bone that was stabbing into Solo's back. With his foot braced against the bed for support, Heero slowly pulled the bone out. It was stuck fast and took a lot of strength, but finally with a sickening sound, the bone slid out of the muscle it was imbedded in. Duo winced before reaching over and applying pressure to the gaping hole in Solo's back.  
  
"Don't press too hard, the bone didn't puncture his lung, but it scraped it a little." For once Duo was the quiet one with a nod, as he watched Heero carefully examine the bone. It hadn't shattered as much as Duo first thought, instead it was as if it were bent too far in one direction and snapped clean in half. Duo looked down and noticed that the towel had turned crimson as well as everything around him, and he placed another one on top of it as he tried to stop the blood pouring from the wound.  
  
"Duo, leave the towels there, I need your help here for setting the bones."  
  
Duo gulped but complied, he hated treating wounds, his own as well as other peoples. It just grossed him out for some reason. With shaking hands he listened to Heero's instructions and in the end, he was holding the two broken sections of wing together as Heero tried to stretch Solo's torn skin of the wound.  
  
The skin refused to spread all the way across the bones, so Heero was forced to make an incision along the length of the skin under the part of the bone which had broken through the skin and wrapped it slowly around the two connected pieces of bone.  
  
Replacing Duo's hands with his own, Heero held the skin over the bones and motioned Duo to go to the supplies box.  
  
"Can you sew?" Duo cocked his head to the side before picking up the needle and medical thread from the box and walking over to Heero.  
  
"Yeah, more or less."  
  
Duo sewed, as best as he could, the flaps of skin together, so that they closed over where the two bones were being held together. After tying it as best as he could, he leaned down and bit the rest of the thread off, not seeming to mind where it had just been.  
  
Then the two switched hand positions once again, and Heero began to prepare the splint along the line of the bones. Tying the splint safely down in place, Duo finally let go and went back to the towels over the deep wound.  
  
"It'll take time to heal, we'll just put a patch over it." The two did so and with their patient bandaged up, they took a step back to look at their handiwork.  
  
"You can clean him up." Heero said, looking at the prone and bloody body on the bed.  
  
"He can shower when he wakes up." Duo cringed slightly at this, remembering the last shower. 'Not that I didn't enjoy it. Or want to do it again, who am I kidding. But no, I can't, I don't even want to think about it with Heero standing next to me.'  
  
Suddenly aware that he was shirtless, Duo grinned to Heero.  
  
"Well, I guess we're done, I think I'm gonna go..." Duo trailed off and began to look around with a strange expression on his face.  
  
"Are you okay Duo?" For once, Heero's voice and face actually seemed concerned, Duo looked very strange to him right now.  
  
His mouth flew open as a cry shot out and Duo fell to the ground. Heero rushed over, but Duo was wobbling on his feet once again.  
  
"Watch Solo, make sure his wings go back in the right place." Duo hissed out between clenched teeth before kneeling down on the floor.  
  
"But what-"  
  
"Just do it!" Duo shouted at him as he hunched over in pain.  
  
As he did this, Heero could see the lines running down Duo's back. Like someone was running a blade along both sides of his back. Blood slowly welled up, leaving a red trial from his shoulders to the backs of his knees. Looking over, he could see the same thing happening to Solo.  
  
"Either take off the rest of his clothes, or cut along where the cuts in his skin are." Duo ground out even as he began to pull off his loose pants and boxers.  
  
Feeling like he couldn't control the blush anymore, Heero turned away from Duo as he undressed and followed Duo's latter advice. Using the knife from the medical supplies, he sliced both of Solo's pant legs and boxers along where the blood was seeping through the cloth. Heero stood back and was again in a daze. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The still unconscious Solo's wings were moving on their own. Stretching, shifting this way and that, till they were both sticking straight up. Keeping his eyes on the part he had mended, Heero watched as the wings slowly folded downward, the bones forcing themselves under the skin where the cuts had opened. The rest of the wings followed, the bones and feathers forcing up the skin of Solo's back, before setting themselves in place. Slowly, all the feathers were soaked in blood, and the last parts of his wings were pushing themselves beneath his skin. Bumps formed where the bones were still shifting, like something was crawling around inside him. Finally his back was completely smoothed out again, and the cuts began to seal together, the blood remaining, but no scar or other trace but a few bloody feathers laying around.  
  
'Duo!' Heero had completely forgot and went over to the boy who was still bent over on the floor. Blood smears covered him as well, and spots formed beneath his body where the red streams had fallen off his body. Heero kneeled beside him and reached over, his fingers shaking as he gently touched his shoulder.  
  
Duo body jumped at the warm touch of his fingertips, before looking up, his face flushed pink from what had just happened. His back and chest rose and fell with each shaking breath, but he looked fine to Heero.  
  
"You okay." His blue eyes betrayed an emotion and Duo could have sworn it was a human one.  
  
"What, the perfect soldier here actually worried about little ole me?" Duo said, grinning up like an idiot and blushing a brighter pink. 'Not the way I pictured me naked with Heero, but I'll take what I can get.'  
  
"Yeah...I...care about you. I...didn't want you to be hurt." Heero seemed to find everything in the room more interesting to look at then Duo's eyes right then, and kept opening his mouth, though no sound would come out, just pauses.  
  
'He's nervous.'  
  
"Thanks Heero." A deceivingly strong arm wrapped around Heero's shoulders, and gently pulled him forward. Duo leaned his forehead against Heero's, looking him in the eyes.  
  
"You know Heero, you're the closest friend I have right now." 'Except for Solo.' Some annoying voice in the back of his head reminded him, but Duo ignored it, too focused in the dark eyes facing his.  
  
'Now's your chance. And probably you're only chance. What's the worse that could happen, he hates you and never talks to you again. Not that the last part would be a bad thing.' In his mind, Heero debated with himself, and grinned at the mental insult.  
  
"Just friends..." Before Duo could reply to the strange comment, Heero brought his hand up from Duo's shoulders, placing it behind his head, and pulled their mouths together.  
  
Out of surprise, Duo's eyes flew open as his mouth and Heero's were roughly brought together, but then he blinked a few times, and his eyes slid shut, all his energy focused on his mouth.  
  
Slowly the two boys turned to face each other, their mouth pressed hotly to each other, tongues pressing against each other. As their lungs burned, both noticed that they needed air and broke off the kiss. Violet eyes looked up, and sent a playful, seductive message to the blue ones. Wrapping his arms around Heero's neck, the two stood up before Duo pressed his mouth against Heero's once again. The two stumbled towards the door, Heero almost falling backwards as Duo leaned his weight against him.  
  
The body on the bed seemed to stir for a second. 'What happened, and who's gonna get his throat slit for knocking me out?' Solo's eyes just barely opened, slits of gold beneath blone eyelashes. Searching around the room to try and remember what happened, Solo felt incredibly sore and couldn't move. The slits of his eyes stopped at the door to the room. There, Heero and a blood covered, naked Duo were kissing passionately and slowly stepping through the door. They seemed to be having trouble standing up. 'Duo, no.' Solo lifted his head, trying to shout to the two of them, or stand up and go rip Heero off of Duo. But the slight movement caused his head to rush and everything began to swirl together. 'I've lost him.' The loss of blood was too much for Solo as the colors slowly came together with the spots and black took over his vision once more.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
'What happened?' Solo's mind wondered again, but this time he didn't try and sit up, or move at all. His eyes stayed closed, and he noticed that he wasn't nearly as tired or sore as he was last time. His back felt good, and warm, and...was being touched. Overpowering his instincts, Solo stayed where he was, he could feel he was still on the bed, and his head was hanging over the edge. The strong hands on his back slowly needed his muscles, making them relax against his will. He controlled his breathing, keeping it at the same pace as when he was asleep as the hands moved across his shoulder blades, down to his lower back, then up again. 'Hmm, this is really nice.' Solo remembered when Duo had last given him a massage, he was really amazing at it. The fingers made small circles as they pressed into his back, and ran their way across everything.  
  
"You always were a damn good massager, Duo." Solo grinned as he mumbled this and opened his eyes halfway. Just in time to see a brown braid go by the door in a hurry. 'What the-' The hands on his back had suddenly clenched and stopped moving.  
  
Solo summoned any strength he had and flung himself onto his back, ending up partially sitting up, with his eyes two inches away from a very pissed off Heero.  
  
"AHHH!!" Solo screamed and tried to back away, ending up falling off of the bed onto the floor. Heero looked at the feet that were sticking straight up from the floor and smirked, all his self-control wasn't enough to keep it in.  
  
Duo came running back from where he was heading and jumped into the room, having heard the loud thump. And proceeded to burst out laughing at the site of Solo, upside down, laying on the floor in the boxers they had put him in.  
  
"Oh thanks, laugh at the injured guy!"  
  
"Hahaha. Yeah right Solo. You were injured about three days ago. You've been asleep healing since then, and you're about as good as usual."  
  
"Three days? Really. Wow. Didn't see that coming."  
  
"Yeah, Trowa already left, but me and Heero are going to be stuck here until we get another mission." Duo smiled at the two of them and walked back towards the living room, before swinging over the banister and heading upstairs to do his daily workout. Solo didn't like the way Duo had said the word 'stuck', he was too happy about it. 'Well, three days, who knows when the bang-boy left, but if I know Duo, he's been screwing that kid silly while I've been unconscious.'  
  
Solo glared unhappily up at Heero, who was sitting comfortably on the bed. He stood rather gracefully to his feet, considering he was just upside down on the floor, and began to search the room for some of his clothes.  
  
"Duo washed the only clothes that weren't torn up for you. They're over there." Solo sneered back in an attempt of a smile and walked over to the folded pile on the bed. Picking up a black shirt that he had forgotten about, he slipped it on. Then a pair of dark, tighter blue jeans than his others. He cast a disdainful look at the leather jacket, but was pleased that Duo cleaned all his clothes, even the troublesome jacket, as well as he had. Picking up the other clothes, he walked to his duffel bag, casting a glance at Heero as he walked by.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Why do you care?" Solo asked monotonously before stuffing his clothes into the bag. Then he began to walk around the room, picking up random things which belonged to him and throwing them into the open bag. Finding his brush, he quickly brushed through his blond hair, noticing that it had been washed of blood, along with the rest of him. Then the brush went flying into the bag as well.  
  
"You're leaving." Heero decided as the taller boy walked over and zipped up the bag.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Are you going to say goodbye to him?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Why not? You know how much it hurts him when you do that."  
  
Solo sneered back at him as he began a final check of everything that he had collected from around the room.  
  
"So, Duo decided to tell you about me. Or more about me I should say. So, was this before or after you two were fucking each other across the hall."  
  
The gold eyes seemed to shine angrily at the boy on the bed, although the lips were still grinning.  
  
"So you know. Is that why you're leaving him?"  
  
"I offered him the chance to come with me. But he didn't want to. He'd rather be with you, and keep murdering people with no good reason." Solo sighed and readjusted the bag on his shoulder.  
  
"I guess it's Duo's decision to make. But goodbye's are pointless to us. Whether we want to or not, we're stuck seeing each other, again, and again. At least, as long as we're alive." Solo smiled once at Heero, a real smile, and winked. The boy on the bed looked at him in confusion, before Solo bowed slightly, and walked to the door. He swung it open and was about to step out when Heero called to him, still sitting on the bed.  
  
"Do you two love each other?" Heero's voice sounded a little desperate, even to his own ears. Solo paused, his hand on the doorknob, but he never turned his head or looked over at Heero. Then he walked down the hallway, and Heero could just barely pick up the answer, from half way down the hall, that was whispered to his ears alone.  
  
"You're half right." The front door closes.  
The end.  
  
I hope you all enjoyed the ending of Past Becomes You. Leave me a review of what you think or im me at tmbrwolf113 to tell me what you thought of it. And to answer it right now, there will be a sequel to this fic, but I am going to write it all this summer when I have time and no more homework. Thanks for reading! 


	13. Rainy Day, epilogue or prologue?

The first attempt at uploading this didn't work. Sorry. Thanks a lot to Evil Neko for pointing it out. ^_^  
  
This is the interlude chapter between The Past Becomes You and the yet un- named sequel.  
  
You can listen to Rainy Day (the song that inspired this). Go to yahoo and type in "music for the masses" and "guster" and it is the first link that comes up. I only put a few of the lyrics here, because it is really the sound of the song that goes with this fic. I would strongly encourage listening to it while you read.  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
The colony was brushed with a soft pink as the sun set beyond the earth. There were clouds beginning to climb over the barren sky, chasing after the retreating sun. The cities on the colony of L2 were silent and abandoned, the people of the colony already cold and hungry, with little need to add wet to their list. Mother called in their children and men rushed into their houses, attempting to escape the oncoming storm, which they were used to considering the bad condition the colony's climate control was in.  
  
Flat smacks on the asphalt echoed through the alleyways as an older boy tore down the street. His worn sneakers flew across the pavement, hurtling him farther with each stride, as if the very demons of hell were on his heels.  
  
The tall boy raised his fists to his chest, holding them there. Inside his closed hands was something, something he was clutching to desperately. The sun sunk farther below the horizon, only a half circle now bathing the world in a darkening glow. As the boy ran down the sidewalk, he dodged out of the way of anything, human, animal, and object alike as if they were all after him.  
  
Nothing slowed him down, until he panting became noticeable as he ran. Finally, the blond decided he had evaded his unseen pursuers and turned down an alleyway. As he spun around in the alleyway he lost his balance and fell to the ground with a hard thud.  
  
His body shuddered as it lay on the stone alleyway floor, and the boy suddenly felt drained of all his energy. It took his last shreds of strength to pull himself up and lean his back against the brick wall beside him. He sat a few feet from the entrance to the alleyway, allowing him to see should anyone approach.  
  
When the boy's panting slowed to a normal pace, he uncurled his fists and looked down at the weapon within them. A 6-inch survival knife, with a wicked serrated edge sat in his hand, disarmingly small. Except that it was covered in blood. His hands were also soaked, to the point that there was no skin left, only thick red slime, from a deep cut. But there were no wounds on the boy's hands, or anywhere else on his body.  
  
Looking down at his shirt, the boy saw a row of red climbing up on his body. His tired golden eyes looked up to see last few slivers of sun slide under the Earth. The red light covered him, as if a spotlight to point out his sins. The red line of sunlight slowly faded, going up into the sky, and leaving a boy covered in blood in a black alleyway. In the darkness, he almost wished that the red light would come back, it was far too easy to will away what he'd done if he couldn't see the evidence anymore.  
  
The boy jumped when something cold and wet hit his head. He turned his face skyward and saw the swirling gray clouds that were slowly dropping rain at him. The slowly became terribly wrong as the skies opened and drenched the boy straight through his tank top and jeans. The blood on his shirt and hands, warm and sticky, began to seep out and into the puddle he was sitting in.  
  
Suddenly overwhelmed again by the site of his crime, be plunged the knife into the growing puddle around him, washing off the incriminating scarlet splashes. His shirt, his hands, his knife, all were soon but a faded pink.  
  
Lightning flashed in the distance, reflecting off the edge of the knife. The boy wrapped his thick arms around his knees and buried his face in them. The thunder rolled over him, oppressive and accusing. His blond hair fell over his head, drenched and heavy. Every muscle in his body tightened and shook as the cold rain poured down on him.  
  
* * * * * * * *  
Clouds are comin  
Air get's heavy  
Looks like trouble on a rainy day  
Sun starts sinking  
Can't see my shadow  
Looks like trouble on a rainy day  
Holes uncovered  
Walls will crumble  
All spells trouble on a rainy day  
* * * * * * * *  
  
Duo thrashed out in his sleep, an arm hitting Heero in the face. His reactions as sharp as ever, Heero sat up in bed and quickly tried to calm his lover. Duo's head flung in both directions, tossing his loose brown hair around them both.  
  
"Duo. Wake up." Heero hissed as he pulled the boy into a sitting position. After shaking him by the shoulders for a minute, he barely saw a glance of purple eyes creeping out from beneath his eyelids.  
  
Heero wrapped his arms around the confused ex-pilot and held him close. Duo's eyes were now fully open, wide and unseeing in the darkness.  
  
"Why? Why now?" He muttered as his eyes burned with tears. He was shaking, in a cold sweat, and his stomach was turning. The usual effects for him after a nightmare.  
  
"Duo."  
  
The boy looked up at his strong lover, the man he'd been with for the past two years. And yet, despite all that, he didn't want to tell him about the nightmare. He didn't want to think about that familiar figure, running in fear like a wounded animal.  
  
"You can tell me about it." Heero eased the two of them back to the bed, letting his arms relax their hold over Duo. He still seemed badly shaken, as he almost always was after a bad dream. Heero had been through this a few times, as had Duo on the other end. He knew that a comforting touch and a waiting ear would be the best things for him.  
  
"No. It was just a weird dream. I'm not even sure why it bothered me." Duo rolled over and laid a small kiss on Heero's lips. 'You're the only one I need to care about.'  
  
"Hn." Heero seemed fine with this answer and closed his eyes, willing his wired body back to sleep. Duo was not as lucky, lying awake and staring into the dark corners of their apartment bedroom.  
  
'What happened to him? And why am I dreaming of him now?' Duo pulled the covers up over him, feeling cold from the sweat of the dream.  
  
'I hope you're okay, wherever you are, Solo.'  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
Please review! The sequel is going to be written as one complete story as I did with Past Becomes You then I'll put it up in chapters at the end of the summer  
  
And to all the Lemon lovers! Remember, the unedited version of Past Becomes You is available! If you don't want to wade through my site to get to the Gundam Wing part where it is kept, email me or im me and I will send you the URL. 


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